Bacon and Eggs
by KesseliaBanta
Summary: Harm and Mac fight anti-military sentiment during an investigation, and, off duty try something unconventional to quench years of curiosity without actually destroying their working relationship.
1. Tuesday

Summary:  
  
A set of dress whites are bloodied and hanging from a school flag pole, the Chief that owns them is UA and Harm and Mac are sent to California to investigate. The team faces anti-military sentiment where ever they go, especially from their ex-Navy suspect, but discover that even those with a difference of opinion and lifestyle can have virtues that are just as strong.  
  
As the two try to take this case as business as usual, they find that the 'best friends' can be taken too far. A friendly tease turns into an argument, settled only when one of them tries something unconventional to quench years of curiosity without actually destroying their working relationship.  
  
It doesn't work.  
  
By the end of the week, JAG is kicked off the case, the client is arrested, Mac is drunk, Harm is tearing up, and Admiral Chegwidden is ready to transfer somebody out of JAG.  
  
POVs: Harm, Mac, and some Admiral Chegwidden. Rated R for language and brief sexual content.  
  
Apologies: *Chapters are unusually long, but there aren't many.  
  
*Scene breaks and italics didn't come through in the transition from Word to HTML.  
  
*Received many comments about the need for a thesaurus and beta reader. I agree. I wrote this book from beginning to end in four (yes, 4) days and have just now found a beta reader for my stuff.  
  
These and other issues are being edited now. Will update the post when she's refitted from stem to stern... Kesselia  
  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** October: Tuesday  
  
Paperwork. She loved the law. She loved being in court. She loved to argue and debate and question. The one thing Colonel Mackenzie couldn't stand about the law profession (and the military for that matter) was the never- ending stream of redundant paperwork. She would have depended on Bud to take care of it had the Lieutenant assisted the cases with her, but these were cases she had completed on her own, and all of the information that needed to be filled out was somewhere in her head, no one else's.  
  
Mac slapped the file closed and pushed a sweaty brown strand of hair behind her ear before moving to the next one. The last hoorah of summer left a wet heat in the air that brought her to have shut tight the blinds of her office from the direct sunshine and kept the overhead lights dim. It was only an illusion that the darkness made the office any cooler. She lifted her head to ask Bud about the availability of a fan, her eyes and voice caught on the smile on Harm's face. He wasn't looking at her, but he looking childishly evil just the same.  
  
He swaggered across the office floor with an arrogant half-grin aimed at Sturgis. In his hand was a small cardboard box that had already been cut open. The smooth dusty flats of his dress white shoes slid to a stop on the cheap tile in front of the other studious lawyer. Sturgis glanced up from his file, eyebrows first, and looked at Harm with the initial decision that the man was in need of professional help, an expression that would make one think Commander Turner and Admiral Chegwidden were somehow genetically related.  
  
Harm's eyebrows jumped up and down twice as he showed Sturgis the contents of the box. Skeptically, Sturgis bent over his file to peer in. His eyes returned to Harm as a big smile grew across his face and he slapped the file closed with one hand.  
  
By now, Mac was drenched with curiosity. Some mumblings between the two men about 'meeting this weekend' and 'make her purr' drifted into her office only make Mac's eyebrows ripple even further. She licked her lips and caught Harm on his way back to his office with the mysterious box. "Hey, Harm."  
  
Harm stopped at her door, the flat dusty soles of his shoes making that noise again as he stopped. He politely gave her his attention and was completely innocent about what she would want to talk to him about. It was like this was none of her business.  
  
Mac tapped her pen on her opposite finger and grinned with parted teeth. "Eh... What's in the box?"  
  
Harm blinked, then pulled the box in front of him. "Oh. It's a-" He freed his other hand to pull out a fistful of bubbly steal, bolts, flanges, and gaskets to show her. "It's a carburetor."  
  
Mac licked her lips again and smiled down at her desk, embarrassed that her mind ran away with her for a minute. "Of course." She licked the chuckle from her lips.  
  
Harm shifted on his feet to smile like a proud father, "I'm going to work on it this weekend-" He interrupted himself so his voice could curl up into an invitation. "You should come by. I could use the company." She could read those blue eyes better than anybody, but when they warmed at her more than the normal friendly smile, she was afraid she was reading things that weren't really there.  
  
Naturally, she lifted her chin and spit out a smile like he was nuts. "You want me to come over and help work on your car?"  
  
He flicked a dashing smile and teased, "Yeah, well, Sturgis turned me down."  
  
"Oh, I see." She nodded, flipping it around just to keep him on his toes. "So I'm your second choice?"  
  
He caught his breath with defense. "Well, you're a." He motioned up and down the curves under the uniform and long legs and high heals and-  
  
Her brow lifted with daring.  
  
His hand whipped back before he got himself into really big trouble, "Marine." He folded his mouth closed innocently and put one foot into his office. "You're a Marine," he smiled, as if he just realized this piece of data, taking putting another foot into his office but still leaning out by the door jam to keep from looking like he was sneaking away. He ducked his tone and shook his head at how unfortunate it was, flipping it back around at her. "And you know how Marines are with fixing cars."  
  
She put her hands behind her back, raised her chin, and took one easily step at him.  
  
He ducked back in his office, already snickering, and flinched as if he was expecting to be plummeted. He prepared to close the door.  
  
"Colonel?" Petty Officer Tiner marched over and stood at ease behind her. "The Admiral would like to see you and Commander Rabb in his office, ma'am."  
  
Mac gave Harm a glare as she turned around. "Thank you, Tiner." She turned around with a strut. Harm's smile settled as he put down his box and stepped out of his office to fall into step behind her.  
  
Harm may have won this one, but their little war was far from over.  
  
And Mac enjoyed every minute of it.  
  
Admiral Chegwidden sat behind his desk, peering through his spectacles like an angry vulture at the data he found in the file when Commander Rabb and Colonel Mackenzie marched in and came to attention.  
  
"Have a seat," he said with no humor, without looking up, and began explaining the situation before they fully sat down. "There's been an alleged murder of a PNC Wallis. A recruiter in Sunhill California."  
  
Mac winced, "Alleged, sir?"  
  
"They found his whites bloodied and hanging from a flag pole. Chief Wallis has been missing for four days. Local authorities suspect the work of a protest group but as yet have to produce any real suspects. Local JAG has been pushed away from the investigation because they claim it's out of our jurisdiction." He looked at them from over the rim of his glasses.  
  
Harm wrinkled his nose. "Four days without contact is AWOL, sir. Until they produce a body, it is our jurisdiction."  
  
"My point exactly." He handed over the file to the Commander. "Lt Galt does JAG for the area, reporting out of Sacramento I believe. When I spoke with him on the phone, I was severely unimpressed. I want you both on the first flight out to California to stick our noses in it, find the Chief or find his body, and remind the general population in that area that we insist on taking care of our own, no matter what their protest is. Dismissed."  
  
They exchanged glances before shooting out of their chairs. "Aye aye, sir."  
  
The first flight out was a red eye at 11 o'clock. It took the rest of the afternoon to secure other work at the office, the evening to pack and eat dinner, and half the night to fight traffic to the airport. They carpooled and, as Harm drove, Mac read off information from the file. They discussed the case much of the way and that discussion ended at the gate with a soft whine about protesters. Mac grabbed the window seat before Harm realized what was happening and Harm silently winced as he stuffed himself in the middle seat. His blues were going to be severely wrinkled after been scrunched in this seat for six hours. There was no where for his long legs to go. He managed to get somewhat comfortable, but that included putting his elbows on both armrests, hogging them entirely.  
  
The middle aged man next to him wasn't much smaller and stretched his legs out to the aisle as soon as they settled in for take off. He chuckled at Harm and easily let the sailor have the entire armrest. Mac wasn't as giving.  
  
She pulled out her paperback and tried to shove his elbow one direction or the other to make room for herself. Harm looked over at her and tightened his muscles to keep her from making any headway. It quickly turned into a grinning, gritted teeth battle over the armrest.  
  
Mac gave up and yanked her arm away, huffed at him, and then set her elbow on top of his with a jab.  
  
Harm winced harder than it hurt, "Owe," but left his elbow there, satisfied with the compromise. He settled his head back in the seat, set his white hat over his eyes, and snuggled in for sleep.  
  
Her elbow softened on him, but stayed there. The lights went out as the plane taxied. She turned his light off and hers on.  
  
"Thank you," Harm muttered. "But you should get some sleep."  
  
"I will," she assured with a quiet whine.  
  
It sounded like a response she'd have given a husband that had been nagging her about it all day and Harm could only rumble a quiet chuckle about that. His chuckle settled into a comfortable grin at the sinking of his stomach when the plane sped up and took off. It was slow and gentle and rocked him right to sleep. 


	2. Wednesday

Wednesday  
  
She was making love to him. Her mouth was soft. Her body was warm. He could smell her and taste her and touch her and hear her whispers in his ear and his foot fell asleep.  
  
Harm wiggled his leg to wake it up, but it was jammed against something. He tried to ignore it and sink comfortably back into the dream. She was giggling warmly at him but fading fast. He tried to concentrate on the skin and the voice, but the tingling in his let grew to a prickling. Harm was snarling and was lightly stomping his leg awake before he blinked his own eyes open in the airplane.  
  
He looked around at the sleeping passengers and the orange slice of daylight out the windows and dropped his head hard back on the seat with quiet annoyance that a blood thirsty foot woke him up from such a lovely dream. Harm hadn't been laid in almost a year now. It was coming up on the longest he'd ever gone without, and while he had always been graced with cozy dreams from time to time, they had been getting quite common and increasing in detail over the last few months.  
  
The difference with this one was that she actually said something. Harm opened his eyes and stared at the back of the seat in front of him, pulling into cognitive memory everything he could about it before it slipped away into his sleepy unconscious. It wasn't the sex that he grabbed a hold of to remember. It was her voice and her eyes. It was the first dream that those brown eyes sparkled directly into his and her smile whispered the words he really wanted to hear.  
  
His heart pounded just to imagine it and his eyes dropped closed again with a soft, tense sigh. Harm swallowed hard, reeled it back in, and sighed again to clear his head. He blinked himself awake, realizing they would be landing too soon to try for more sleep and glanced to see if Mac was asleep too.  
  
Her book was on her lap, still in her hand, and her ear was against his shoulder as if she simply dropped against him by accident. Chestnut strands fell into her face. He snickered softly at her, but pulled his lips in and reached over with his opposite arm to turn off her light.  
  
His reach made her headrest move and she started blinking herself awake like the hard, grumpy wince of a toddler. Harm settled in again and watched the sunlight grow outside her window as Mac slowly woke up. She pulled away from his shoulder as soon as she realized she was pressed against it, stretched her neck, and blinked sleepily out the window.  
  
Mac sighed herself fully awake and pulled down her Marine-green jacket to sit up strait and glanced at him. "Good morning."  
  
"Mm," was all he said, still grinning a little in annoyance over his sleeping foot. He stomped it lightly a few more times.  
  
She grinned at the movement and put away her book. "Your foot fell asleep?"  
  
"Mm hm," he grumbled, still looking at the morning and the street lights on the ground outside her window. He tried to forget the dream and fought not to look her in the eye until he managed to do so.  
  
Mac detected his mood and shifted to lean against the wall. "It woke you out of a dream, didn't it?" She teased.  
  
His eyes flicked to her. Here we go again.  
  
She smiled out an open mouth. "Was it that dream about the bear roaming through your living room?"  
  
He inhaled a sigh, looked out the window passed her shoulder, and nodded. "Only this time he was making breakfast." He tried to make it sound as casual as he could. Trying to dissect his dreams had become a hobby with her, and, from day one, Harm pulled up the strangest fiction he could think of for her to dissect. So far, it was working.  
  
Her brows wrinkled, "What was for breakfast?"  
  
"Bacon and eggs."  
  
Her expression fought with that one. Harm was a vegetarian. Why would he dream of bacon and eggs? She angled her head to think on it. "I still can't figure out what that bear is all about. Why would someone have a recurring dream about a bear?" She snarled at it with humor and found his eyes had flicked back to her. "What?"  
  
He nearly snickered and looked back out the window before he shrugged a shoulder. He felt the plane gently swoop into decent again and started seeing headlights on the roads. He tried to let the topic die before an escaping grin gave it away and pulled his mouth to a completely relaxed state so she couldn't read his face.  
  
But that never worked.  
  
He could feel her eyes on him and flicked back to look at her. She had her mouth open in a smile, tongue in molar, and was staring at him like she'd caught him with his hand in the cookie jar. His eyes widened lightly, "What?"  
  
"It wasn't about a bear. Was it?"  
  
Harm flattened his mouth and shifted in his seat, to 'casually' look at the other sleeping patrons on the plane. "Oh, come on, Mac. What difference does it make?"  
  
His sudden discomfort was clear as crystal and Mac rose her brows at it. "Well, if it wasn't about a bear, what was it about?" She couldn't figure out why it was such a big deal. They were best friends after all. Maybe they didn't tell each other everything, not like they would have if they were the same sex, but they did talk about a lot. Mac was a little hurt with the sudden secrecy. "You've had that bear dream, what? Six times in the last four months? I mean, if you don't want to tell me about your dream, fine, say so, but why go through all this to make up a recurring dream about a bear making bacon and eggs?" She snarled at how absurd this was.  
  
She had tried to keep her voice quiet, and she did, but it was getting loud enough to make him uncomfortable. His eyes moved back to her with a tested sigh. Then he shifted a little to lean further in her direction and eyed her with intensity on this. "Mac. It was a bear making bacon and eggs." He stared at her like he was admitting it wasn't true, but demanded that she accepted it that way.  
  
Her chin ducked and her brow rose. Don't challenge me, buster. She stared at him until he slowly pulled away and settled back into his seat like that was the end of it.  
  
She watched him for a long minute, eyes narrowing indignantly, but watched him shift in the seat again, force his face to relax expressionlessly, and eventually squirm under her stare and look somewhere else.  
  
She lifted her chin, put her tongue back in her molar, and tried not to chuckle with insinuation.  
  
Harm closed his eyes and sighed patiently when he heard her, realizing that they were far from reaching a settlement about it.  
  
With his raincoat over his arm and his suitcase in the other hand, Harm received the key from Avis, still defending himself. "I'm not going tell to tell you, Mac. Give it up already."  
  
"Come on," she shrugged. "I'm your best friend." She walked with him out of the small airport and right into the flat parking lot. "Second to Sturgis, anyway," she jabbed with a grin. Beyond the reaches of the airport, there was nothing but a freeway and farmland in all directions. "Did you tell Sturgis?"  
  
He marched out, trying to stay ahead of her a pace, and followed the numbers on the parking lanes to get to their vehicle. "I swear on my honor I haven't told a soul." He checked the key and checked the number on the ground, then checked the car. It was a white Ford Taurus, weak and big, but would do the trick.  
  
She was quiet when he opened the truck and he started to think she was going to drop it, but she set her suitcase in next to his and paused there to look up at him. "It's about a woman."  
  
Harm didn't look at her. He just sighed patiently and stood tall to shut the trunk.  
  
No denial. Her brows lifted. "Who is it?"  
  
He licked his lips and turned away from her to get into the car.  
  
"Oh come on, Harm!" She moved to climb in too, but was already badgering him with laughter before she put her seatbelt on. "You've got a new crush and you didn't even tell me!?" She said it like they were college buddies gossiping in the locker room. He kept his eyes on what he was doing, moved the seat back as far as it would go, and started the car.  
  
Mac propped her elbow on the armrest and continued relentlessly. "Do I know her? Is it someone at JAG? Is she even in the military?"  
  
He glanced at her with a hard cue that might get her to shut up before checking over his shoulder to back out.  
  
She blatted out with a whine. "I can't believe you're not going to tell me!" She was surprised to be so insulted by it. She thought, after all these years, they were close enough as friends to talk openly about their relationships, no matter how obscure they might be. "Are you in a relationship with her?"  
  
"No," he muttered before he thought about it, then decided he would tell her that much anyway. It would have gotten worse if Mac thought he had a girlfriend she didn't know about. He drove easily out of the parking lot and enjoying the lack of traffic on the freeway. He speed up to the limit, got comfortable behind a semi truck, and settled in for a long drive.  
  
She blinked that she actually got an answer and then realized that perhaps she could maneuver his answers as long as she nudged it gently. At least she got confirmation out of him that it was about a woman. "But you're not going to tell me who it is."  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Would you tell me if I guessed it right?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Are you going to try to have a relationship with her?"  
  
He blinked in a sudden chuckle and opened his eyes to shake his head. "Mac. Why do you want to know this so badly? I mean, really?" He actually glanced at her with his humored earnest. "It's just a damned dream."  
  
She settled into her seat and rested her hands in her lap as she thought of her answer. She watched the new sunshine glow at a string of farm workers already breaking their backs. "Dreams come out of your subconscious. If you have dreams about someone, especially recurring ones, it means that somewhere deep down, you have feelings for them." She glanced over for his reaction to all this.  
  
His eyes were guarded and stuck to the road.  
  
Her own heart started sinking into her stomach. She flopped her elbow back on the windowsill, pressed her mouth into her palm and stared out at the city rolling toward them on the farmland conveyer belt.  
  
Ice crystallized in the air.  
  
Harm sighed his eyes closed and opened them again with a press of his mouth. "Mac, I assure you. My dreams are better described as bears and bacon."  
  
She glanced over with an uncertain wince.  
  
He kept his eyes on the road and his fists on the steering wheel. "You don't want to know."  
  
They exchanged looks. Hers was confused. His was as serious as a heart attack.  
  
She snarled back to the scenery. The city of Sacramento rolled by them a lot shorter, quieter and quicker than they would have expected, but neither was paying attention to that. Harm glanced at her on occasion to watch her expression fade and start to relax again, but when Mac started seeing farmland again, she turned to look at him, "It's not Singer. Please tell me it's not Singer."  
  
Harm sighed with disappointment and turned on the radio.  
  
It was an hour drive through nothing to get to the medium sized city they were headed to. Finding the hotel wasn't difficult as it was right off of the freeway, and they arrived early enough to straighten their uniforms, freshen up, and meet again to scout out breakfast at the nearest coffee shop.  
  
"I'm guessing Mexican food is the local cuisine," she muttered as they sat down in the booth, looking out the window to the sinking purple pickup truck and the Latino man at the wheel. It was the fourth of its kind she'd seen since they arrived. "Half the population doesn't look like they even speak English."  
  
The voice of the young waitress had an accent, and her lightened brown hair and makeup matched the style of the purple pickup truck, but her words was bold and accurate. "We speak English just fine, thankyouverymuch."  
  
Mac and Harm looked over at the sudden company. Mac adjusted in her seat and smiled. "Sorry. No offense."  
  
The waitress put down two small glasses of ice water and two menus for them but was unimpressed with the apology. "What can I get for you?"  
  
"Two coffees, please." Harm said, watching the woman's reaction as he slid a menu his way. He saw the young woman flick angry eyes at him and his brows rippled at her as she turned away. He kept his voice low. "What was that all about?"  
  
Mac shook her head. "She took it wrong." She looked out to the main street again and watched the traffic slowly get thicker as the day woke up. "Where are we going first?"  
  
"The police. We'll call Sacramento JAG as soon as the office opens and see if we can't get him down here to assist. But I want to talk to the investigator."  
  
"The uniform was found at a college. If Wallis frequented the place, we could spend all day questioning people on campus."  
  
Harm nodded. "I think we'll end up having to do that sooner or later."  
  
A small group of people strolled by their table as they were led to their own, but paused for second glances and strange looks at the uniforms on Harm and Mac. The expressions were far from pleasant.  
  
Harm winced distastefully and looked back out the window. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this place."  
  
"Yeah," she breathed, looking at her own clue of discomfort/distaste about the military, "me too."  
  
"Lieutenant Galt, this is Commander Rabb of Washington JAG. Did you get our message yesterday?" Harm said into his cell phone as they waited at a stop light, "Yes. A colleague and I are in Sunhill now. How soon can you make it down to meet with us on what you've discovered so far?"  
  
Harm's forehead rippled and his upper lip winced at the strange stuff he was hearing. Mac started paying more attention.  
  
"No, Lieutenant. We're under orders to work with the civilian authorities directly." The light turned green and the traffic started moving. "We're on our way to the local police now."  
  
He was listening, but a rushing car cut him off too hard. Harm dropped the phone and yanked the steering wheel. The car was racing to catch a left turn light, the traffic was already recovering around him, and Mac had picked up the phone before he managed an exasperated sigh.  
  
"Lieutenant, this is Colonel Mackenzie-" her face went strange too. "No--, Lieutenant! No. We are investigating. When can you meet us?" She glanced at Harm. "Tomorrow at eleven? All right, fine. Let me give you our number.." Mac had to interrupt the Lieutenant three times before she settled their cell phone numbers, their hotel, and the plans for tomorrow. She was anxious to get off the phone and threw it back in his lap like it was infected.  
  
Harm nodded. "You're telling me."  
  
"I'm beginning to understand why we're here."  
  
Harm nodded again and sighed at the Section 8 housing and disconcerting billboards. Most of the public advertisements were about pregnancy, father responsibility, reporting Meth Labs and few of them were in English. "Are you sure we got off the plane at the right airport? It's like we've leaped into Central America or something. "  
  
She grinned at him, pretending to nibble a carrot and putting on her best New Yorker snarl, "We shoulda taken a left at Albuquerque."  
  
Harm brightened with a smile.  
  
Sergeant Martinez of the Sunhill Police was unimpressed by their uniforms, their serious demeanor, or their mission. He waved a hand the case files on his desk as if they hadn't noticed. "Look, I'd love to help you, but it's one homicide among a dozen I'm working on all at the same time. Now, that said, I have reason to believe that your Wallis is simply on hiatus. There are connections between him and the protest group at the college and forensics could not positively identify the blood as his. I think Wallis himself is in on it to make a point. So, if you want to take it, you got it." He leaned over and flipped through his stack until he found the file. It was thin compared to the others. "All give you all the help I can, but were undermanned, underpaid and overbooked, so any help is going to be slow at best."  
  
Mac took the file and flipped through it.  
  
Harm took a stand against the insult. "Sergeant, it would take a lot to convince me that a Chief of thirteen years of excellent military service went on hiatus with a protest group."  
  
The Sergeant shrugged. "Look around you, Cap'n. There's not a lot in this town to make one proud enough to keep serving his country."  
  
The phone rang and the Sergeant reached for it, but he paused before picking it up.  
  
Harm nodded at him. "Thank you." He pointed his hat at the man. "We'll be in touch."  
  
The Sergeant nodded and picked up the phone.  
  
Mac looked over the file as they strolled out to the front of the police station. The place was busier than justified by the city's size. Harm pressed his mouth as he looked over the pawn shops and bail bonds joints right across the street from the station and Mac pointed out a few things in the file.  
  
"Dress whites, no name tag or ribbons, but the name was written in on the tag, common stenciling. Blood on the shirt, left side at the waist estimated about two ounces from a stomach wound. Ouch. It was rigged onto the flag pole and raised in place of the US flag in front of Sunhill Junior College."  
  
Harm pointed down one street as he strolled to the rental car. "I thought I saw a campus up there. What's the address?"  
  
Mac read it off before climbing in and kept reading the file as he drove toward the place in question. "Blood type matches the Chief's."  
  
"We might need to do a DNA match. If it's not his blood we'll have to toss it back to the police."  
  
Her brows lifted. "His residence was empty."  
  
"What do you mean empty?"  
  
"Empty." She read off the file. "Residence of alleged deceased was emptied and cleaned appropriately for showing but no notice given to the landlord." She put the file down in her lap. "It sounds like someone wanted to make him disappear."  
  
"I'm beginning to see where the Sergeant was headed with his gut feeling."  
  
"Yeah, but a Chief?"  
  
Harm shrugged and shook his head, having no answers.  
  
The college they'd seen was beautiful and old with ivy walls and sculptured lawns. The halls were Ninetieth Century East coast and the dorms were of Swiss architecture. It was the first familiar looking place they'd seen since the plane touched down, but it wasn't the college they were looking for. With a stop in the University's parking lot and a quick ask for directions, they discovered that the college in question was another campus not too far down the same street.  
  
They continued to review the file and scanned mini-malls and apartment complexes for the college. As he passed through another light, Harm saw the big shopping mall on one side of the street and whistled hello when he saw the thick of redwood trees on the other.  
  
Mac closed the file and looked up. Buildings were hiding behind the trees and an unusual proportion of junk cars were coming in and going out of its main entrance, just like any college. They found the sign only after Harm took a hunch and pulled to the turn lane. It was the right place, and, as they waited for the light to turn green, they looked fat the scene of the crime.  
  
They studied the three flag poles out front. The Colors, the California state flag, and the college flag were hanging with depression at the lack of wind. There were new bolt locks on the pole. Anyone could have just walked up and hiked up something else without being seen from the far away slit windows of the campus. But the poles were right in front of a six- laned street and right across the street from the city's only shopping mall.  
  
Mac ducked her head, eyes up at the pole out Harm's window, trying to imagine the task of hiking the uniform up there. Harm winced softly at the surroundings. It was too busy for any one to do it unseen. Either the whole city was involved, or nobody cared.  
  
Mac saw Harm's face changed from soft confusion, to what the hell is that? She sat up in her chair and watched a skinny kid stroll by on the side walk with a backpack, a dog chain around his plastic pants, and more piercing than an earring display.  
  
Mac chuckled quietly, "Welcome to California."  
  
"No kidding."  
  
He pulled in and guessed at a parking lot. It was full, so he guessed at another one. It was full too. It felt like they were on the far side of campus when they finally found a spot, and as time ticked deeper into morning, a dozen cars scurried around them to find some as well. They climbed out of the car, all turned around and lost, and bought a temporary sticker. Mac looked to find some clue of which direction the campus had gone. Harm just motioned to follow the general direction of all the people hauling ass to class.  
  
Mac chuckled and held the file beside her as she marched casually beside him. Twenty year old men and women were throwing backpacks on as they belted out in a run towards the campus. Mac sang fondly, "I remember the days."  
  
Harm smiled in agreement as bodies raced around them in the parking lot one by one. "You ever think of going for your masters?"  
  
"Often." She nodded. "It's hard to find the time though."  
  
"Yeah," he agreed at that as well, watching the dynamics of the campus and the Spanish mission buildings come into view.  
  
Of all the people that were hustling into a crevasse between the two buildings, there was a small gathering at the edge of the parking lot in no hurry to get anywhere. The group was on and around the path that led into campus. They slowed to approach in order to gently ask for directions, but the group was an interesting mix that made them both pause a little more. Half of them were young men of middle-eastern decent and half of them were middle-aged white women. They weren't hanging on each other like couples, but they were shouting friendly insults at each other like family. The only two things they all appeared to have in common were that they were unimpressively dressed and most of them were smoking cigarettes.  
  
"Catharine, go to class," commanded one of them lightly.  
  
The first few that saw Harm and Mac did a double take, but ended up trying to ignore them for sake of the conversation. The one woman that was making most of the noise, Catharine, stopped cold with a shadowing grin in their direction. Her face was leathered with age, but her baggy jeans, butch-cut hair, and untied combat boots screamed 'permanent student'.  
  
Someone else had picked up the conversation so few noticed her motion to them. She turned her face to Harm and Mac, still a dozen paces away, with a grin like she knew them. Catharine flicked her chin as she mouthed it, but it was her expression they understood. Wanna see something funny?  
  
Harm blinked and glanced at Mac warily before looking back at the woman.  
  
Catharine dropped her cigarette and stomped it out as she turned to another standing beside her. The other had her back to them and was listening to a long speech from someone else. The woman tucked her face behind the other's shoulder and yelled with a deep Boot Camp shout. "Captain on deck!"  
  
Her friend flinched hard and came close enough to attention for Harm and Mac to recognize it, but shook herself out of it before anyone else did. Half the group flinched when she'd yelled it. Harm and Mac folded their lips in to keep from grinning.  
  
The victim looked back to Catharine and threatened to strangle her but Catharine was already laughing so hard she'd bent over to hold her own knees.  
  
The victim of the prank took one look at Harm and Mac and sighed heavily before shaking her head. She flapped her hand out at them. "He's a Commander, stupid!" Despite her growl, she was giggling already.  
  
Catharine shrugged, already stepping away to the building. "It was still funny."  
  
"Catharine, go to class!" One of the turban-wearing men yelled.  
  
She turned and trotted towards the buildings with no books in her hands, "I'm going. I'm going."  
  
Harm and Mac finished the last few steps, just enough to get onto the path, but didn't approach the group any further than that. The victim turned to them with the blood still fading from her face. A younger friend was behind her, hanging off her shoulder and clasping her hand over her mouth with laughter.  
  
"Can you direct us to the Administrative Office?" Harm asked her politely.  
  
She sighed deeply and angled her head back to her still-giggling friend. "Liz, take them to Admin."  
  
Liz stopped laughing long enough to grab her back pack. "Nuh huh. No way." She gave her a cute 'toodles' and two others were already leaving with her.  
  
The woman looked back at the last woman in the bunch, but she didn't even look up before shaking her head. "They're your people."  
  
She sighed again and looked back at Harm and Mac, pressing her mouth to a strange smile, and nodded. "Come on." She flicked her shoulder for them to follow and led them to the crevasse between buildings.  
  
She wore jeans with a hole in the knee, a Harley Davidson tank top, and a nondescript ball cap over her short hair. As Catharine did, she reeked of student, but the lines in her face and audacious truth in her eyes spoke of many more years than a recent high school graduate.  
  
It didn't take work to recognize the way the ball cap sat on her head either. Harm studied her back as he walked behind her. "How long have you been out?"  
  
She glanced back at them only momentarily. "Ten years," she said.  
  
Mac did the calculations quickly. "Desert Storm?"  
  
She sighed as if she expected this, but the wise grin in her eyes didn't make it sour as she rattled it off. "88 to 92. ET Nuthin to Nobody. USS Sammy G but I was on shore duty for the war. Yes, my GI Bill is all gone and, no, I do not want back in." She spun on her heals and flapped out her palms, strolling backward a few paces at them. "Anything else?. sir or ma'am?"  
  
Harm ducked his chin with a disappointed curl in his brow.  
  
The woman snickered disbelief at him and swiveled back around to march them through the campus.  
  
They were glad she showed them the way instead of simply directing them. The paths forked in and out of buildings like a curved maze and the buildings were all the same brown stucco of that Spanish mission look. A large black student tried to stop her on the way, asking about 'lab time' and then asked her if she was joining back up. She shooed him off and promised to come find him in a minute. She sighed again and cranked open the glass door of a building.  
  
She waved her hand with feigned elegance to let them in, and in the quiet hallway, shoved in her hands into her pockets behind them. "This is about Chief Wallis, isn't it?"  
  
Mac glanced back. "You know him?"  
  
"Heard about it after the fact." She motioned them around a corner. "The story's all over campus. Good luck finding him."  
  
Harm and Mac exchanged concerned glances. "Why do you say that?"  
  
Her lip snarled at them, "Why wouldn't I?"  
  
Harm glanced back at her as he walked, his voice stiff and careful, "You seem to be a little negative about the military. Why would you worry about this Chief?"  
  
She motioned to the door with the right label on it and stopped to face them with a sigh and shrug. "I'm not negative, sir." She grinned pathetically. "I'm just mentally fighting to keep myself out so I don't I talk myself into legally fighting to get back in."  
  
Mac smiled at that. Harm chuckled and nodded in understanding. It made sense. ET's customarily did six years, not four. This woman got out early.  
  
Harm opened the door for Mac and told the woman honestly. "Thank you for the directions."  
  
She turned her head and stepped out to leave. Her greeting was only partially sarcastic. "And you have a fine, fine Navy day."  
  
It didn't even take a flash of the ID cards for the secretary to interrupt the Dean for his unscheduled visitors. They were shown to the office immediately and offered coffee and seats upon stepping in.  
  
Thomas Wellington was an aging man in a gray suit and cut from the cloth of conservative educators. He spoke with foul discontent about the liberalness of his students until they directed him back on the missing Chief and the bloody uniform. But when he focused his topic, nearly everything he had to say was already in the file. The police knew more about the incident than he did. They had hunted down a list of possible recruits that the Chief had recent record of and Thomas Wellington offered them another file that included the schedules and grade histories of those names the school also had record of.  
  
Harm took it and glanced over the names and grades on the single sheet reports. "What about this protest group?" He glanced at Mac.  
  
Mac looked in the police record for the name. "The 'AWIQ'. Anti-War in Iraq group."  
  
"That protest group, as far as I know, operates out of San Francisco. They don't have a formal chapter in Sunhill and we haven't had a peace protest on this campus since the seventies, so it's hard to know who may be a member. I've heard of the connection, but I don't know why the police has that on file as a suspect group."  
  
"Have you seen Chief Wallis on campus?"  
  
"Me? No." Mr. Wellington admitted. "I hardly have a chance to leave this office. I know he was on campus frequently, however. I actively promote military recruiters to visit often, but personally, I have no information."  
  
"Is there any way you can help us with our investigation?"  
  
Mr. Wellington nodded. "I'll have my secretary get you a phone list and a map of the campus and I'll send word to the faculty and staff that you are extended every courtesy. If our looking for the latest quad gossip though, all I can get you is a few key names and a prayer that you have better luck than I did."  
  
Harm grinned and nodded. "That would be very helpful. Thank you."  
  
In ten minutes, they were given what they were promised. Mr. Wellington introduced them to his secretary, and large, elderly woman with kind eyes and knowing smile by the name of Janice, who would be their main point of contact at the campus. They stepped out of the Admin building with a better idea of what to do next and Mac offered to buy a cup of coffee while they look closely over the new information.  
  
She motioned a girl down to ask where the coffee shop was. Every college had one. It had to be somewhere. But the girl winced at her and stepped away. Mac waved down someone else: a young man with spiked hair and a ring in his nose. He pointed them on their way and soon found a table in a brick courtyard to go over their data with their Lattes.  
  
Mac looked over the Chief's phone logs from his house and the office and Harm matched up the names with students in the Dean's file. There were twelve students out of fifty different numbers, but most of those fifty were verified military office numbers, so it helped skim the list down to a reasonable length of people to question.  
  
Harm considered the list. "I would want to go see the landlord and the recruiter's office at this point, but some of these kids aren't going to be here tomorrow."  
  
Mac pursed her lips and twisted them to the side. "We can just come back on Friday. Or we could go to their home addresses."  
  
He rubbed his lower lip with his finger. "I'd rather try to catch them all here. Saves a lot of driving time."  
  
She nodded. "Okay. The landlord will be home tonight and the recruiter we can catch first thing in the morning."  
  
Harm looked at the reports, his watch, and then the campus map.  
  
"Are you lost again?" The ex-navy woman chuckled at them.  
  
She had stopped at the table on her way out of the coffee shop and carried only a large Styrofoam mug and a red pen.  
  
Mac glanced up and grinned uncomfortably as she pointed at the map in Harm's hand. "We have a map now, thank you."  
  
The woman gave Mac a friendly smiled, nodded honorably, and turned to leave. "Yes, mayam."  
  
Harm waved a hand at her. "Wait wait wait." Mac glanced at him only long enough to see the idea in his expression.  
  
She stopped and turned with a tone of reporting-as-ordered. "Sir?"  
  
"I'm Commander Rabb. This is Colonel Mackenzie." Harm held his hand out in greeting. "We're from Judge Advocate General's office in Washington."  
  
Her eyes shifted to Mac, then back to Rabb, and cautiously held her hand out to shake his firmly. "Jodi Young." She moved to shake Mac's hand as well and greeted a strange hello, then pointed out as a joke. "You can call it 'JAG', y'know. They have their own TV show these days. Not many people would screw up that TLA anymore."  
  
Mac grinned. "TLA?"  
  
Harm smiled over. "Three Letter Acronym."  
  
Mac pressed her mouth and turned her smile away  
  
"So, what can I do for you, Colonel? Commander?"  
  
Harm offered her a piece of paper. "Can you help me find and talk to anyone on this list?"  
  
She took the paper and looked at it. "I know this one and this one.. this isn't even a student. the rest, I don't know. I can look them up in the Lab records though." She handed the list back. "Did you get their schedules? You'd have better luck there."  
  
Mac winced. "Which one isn't a student?"  
  
She motioned, "Catharine Kohlby. She's an AJ teacher. I can take you right to her. She'll tell you everything she knows too."  
  
"Why?" Harm asked. "Because she's in Administrative Justice?"  
  
"No, because she's an ex-cop." Jodi shrugged. "I don't know if it'll help though. I'm sure she already told all she knows to the active duty cops."  
  
Harm nodded and decided he wanted to talk to her anyway.  
  
Mac was looking through her file again and closed it with a meaningful glance to Harm before she asked Jodi. "Do you know a Steve Young?" Steve Young was the second to last phone call from Chief Wallis' cell phone Sunday night.  
  
Jodi's brows rose with alert and then rippled harshly. "Why?"  
  
Harm sat up in his chair and leaned his elbows on the table.  
  
Mac lifted her brows right back at her. "Do you know him or not?"  
  
Jodi's took a step back but more to slide cautious looks at the both of them.  
  
"Is he your husband?" Harm asked.  
  
She shook her head and inhaled with a harder wince. "No. I'm not married. Yes. I do know him. Why?"  
  
Mac lifted her chin at Harm and Harm read her expression clearly. He motioned to a chair. "Why don't you sit down? Let's talk a minute."  
  
Jodi took another step back and looked at her watch. "I can't. I have to be in the Lab in five minutes." Harm expression started melting at the lie and she flashed at him in defense. She lifted her right hand, "I swear, sir. I really do. I'll be out in an hour. Tell yeah what? If you tell me where you'll be when I get out, I'll meet you and talk to you then. Okay?"  
  
Mac put her elbow on the table with disbelief. "Where is this lab?"  
  
"The Tutor Lab. Dorsey 220." She insisted honestly. "You can follow me if you want. But I've got students waiting. I can't really talk to you now."  
  
Mac nodded at her and waved her off. "We'll find you."  
  
"Yes, ma'am." Jodi gave her a nod of respect and a tap of her cap bill as casual salute as she trotted away with her coffee.  
  
Mac watched their number one suspect run out of the courtyard and looked at Harm. He was watching her go as well with his tongue in his molar. His eyes moved seriously to Mac before gathering his file back into a pile. "Let's make sure she goes to a lab."  
  
Mac nodded and gathered her file quickly. They were on the hot but casual march out to of the courtyard and followed their suspect from thirty feet behind. The woman never looked back to see if she was being followed. She just hurried across the campus, working to not spill her coffee, and into another brick courtyard, waving hello at a few people as she moved along. They stopped in the courtyard as she moved up the stairs. Harm could already see the room on the second floor that advertised big letters, "The Tutor Lab" and the 220 above the door.  
  
When she went in, Harm stopped and put his hands on his hips to Mac. "Well, that's legit."  
  
Mac nodded and looked around a little at the movement of students between classrooms. Many were giving them hard, strange looks and stepping far out of their way.  
  
She motioned to his file. "Let's try to find some of the others."  
  
They managed to talk to three students in that hour and had an interesting time silencing classrooms the moment they walked in and requested names from the professors. Shoulders stiffened instantly and didn't calm again, they were sure, until long after they left. The three students they managed to pull out of class were all young, two men, one woman, and all were considering or in progress of joining the Navy. They'd described in detail their last conversation with Chief Wallis and the last time they saw him - it was all about their enlistment papers etcetera and all occurred days before he'd disappeared.  
  
Mac spoke up when the hour was just about over. They worked their way back to the Tutor Lab and stepped into the busy center. Jodi was in the back, finishing up and saying goodbyes to people. She glanced at them and waved nervously from across the room before taking off her name tag and stuffing files away.  
  
A professor stepped up to them with a curious look of concern and humor. "Can I help you?"  
  
Harm motioned. "We're waiting for Ms. Young."  
  
The professor grinned impressively and looked back just as Jodi was stepping up. The man clearly lived just for picking on her. "So you've finally had enough of us and are joining back up, huh? I wouldn't mind seeing you in one of those." He motioned to Harm's uniform.  
  
"Believe you me, Doc." She chuckled, stepping around chairs and waving behind her. "My uniform had no gold on it whatsoever." She gave Mac a raised-brow grin about it and moved out of the room with them at her heals.  
  
She led them deeper into the building and out the back of it, pausing on occasion to make sure she hadn't lost them in the crowd. The crowd was parting for them anyway. If it wasn't the uniforms, it was the Commander's height or the Colonel's looks that gave pause and a step back. When they emerged on the outer rim of the campus again, Jodi lit up a cigarette and slowed down, casually strolling and ready to answer questions.  
  
"Who is Steve Young?"  
  
"He's my father," she told them. "But I have no idea how he would know Chief Wallis," she admitted with a wince. "I mean, my dad is a retired Senior Chief, but he doesn't keep contact with any of his old squid buddies. Unless he was looking to get back in, which I highly doubt, I have no idea why they would know each other."  
  
Mac angled her head. "Why would you doubt it?"  
  
Jodi faced them and rested her weight on one leg. "He's almost sixty," she offered.  
  
Harm nodded. "All right." If he were that old, Chief Wallis was hardly a in the same ranks as her father to be buddies anyway. "Where can we find your father?"  
  
"He'll be home Saturday" She shrugged at their expressions. "Sorry, he works in the bay area. You can't catch him on this side of the hill during the week."  
  
"The bay area? San Francisco? He has an apartment there?"  
  
"Oh no. He commutes. Two and a half hours each way, so it's late when he gets home."  
  
Mac's eyes widened. "Each way?" She looked at Harm. "And I though my commute was bad."  
  
Jodi chuckled. "Yeah, 395 is a bitch sometimes, huh?"  
  
Harm lifted a brow at her, "You're familiar with D.C."  
  
She nodded and flicked her cigarette. "Familiar enough."  
  
Harm started stepping away. "Can you arrange to have your father talk to us on Saturday?"  
  
"Sure. He'd be happy to. You need the number or anything?"  
  
Mac lifted the file. "We've got it already."  
  
She started strolling the other direction. "Did you guys want to talk to that teacher?"  
  
Harm stopped and looked back.  
  
Jodi thumbed over her shoulder to the place they'd found her in at the beginning of the day. "She's over there."  
  
Jodi walked them over towards the smoker's corner but far enough away for private conversation. She called the jokester over who was late for class and dressed like a bum and formally introduced the Commander and Colonel to Professor Catharine Kohlby, ex-cop and official pain-in-the-ass. As soon as Harm started explaining, Jodi stepped away and calmed the curiosity of the on-looking gathering.  
  
"I considered Chief Wallis a colleague." Catharine explained with more pride and honor than her looks gave her credit for. "Sometimes I send kids to the military recruiters if they don't want to be cops. As for last week, I had a student in my AJ-24 class who was interested in the Navy, and the Chief and I talked about schooling options for him over the phone." She shrugged. "As far as I know, the student never got in touch with him."  
  
"Can you give us his name?"  
  
"Sure." Catharine stuffed her cigarette in her teeth and wrote the name and number down on Mac's vanilla colored file. When she handed it back, she took her stogie out and pointed at it. "I told all this to the Investigating Sergeant. It should all be in there already."  
  
Harm dropped his file to hang from his hands in front of him. "You were an officer of the law. What do you think happened to Chief Wallis?"  
  
Catharine dropped her smoke to the ground and stomped it out with a sober expression. "I don't know. I smell rat in Denmark, but I don't have enough to put my finger on it." She lifted her head to look at them seriously and held her hand out for Mac's file again. "Let me give you my number at home. Maybe you'll come up with something odd-shaped and I'll have a piece that fits it."  
  
Mac lifted her brows, impressed with the level of help. Harm took a card out and handed it to her. "My cell number in case you think of anything."  
  
A stoned-looking skate punk had rolled nearly up to Catharine, but waited aside for her attention. Catharine glanced at him and motioned him to wait a minute.  
  
Mac lowered her voice. "What makes you think there's a rat in Denmark?"  
  
"Bloody clothes, no body and no blood trail." Catharine shook her head. "They wanted us to see the uniform. It was a statement. Maybe a warning. But I can't tell you what it means or who its from."  
  
"Do you know anyone in the AWIQ?" Harm asked.  
  
Catharine wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "Never heard of it."  
  
Just as she said it, Mac glanced over at the sideways looks from the young middle-eastern men in the gaggle. They were of various nationalities and few wore turbans or symbols of religion, but after seeing nothing but blacks, whites and Hispanics on the campus all day, it was clear they'd been ousted because of their race and current events.  
  
She gave Harm a glance at her intentions. He nodded in agreement and turned back to Catharine for more questions. Mac stepped away to the group.  
  
Catharine watched Mac go with concern as she answered Harm's questions easily. There was no helpful data in her answers, but she was more worried about the Marine woman questioning her young students.  
  
The skate punk made a noise. "C'mon Catharine. Let me get it over with. I gotta go."  
  
Catharine glanced over, looked at Harm, and looked back at Mac. She waved Harm and the skate punk over to follow her and walked backwards to the smoker's corner. She motioned for Harm to hold his questions a moment and the skate punk to go ahead with his.  
  
The skate punk sighed heavily and fiddled with the board under his foot. He looked up at the sky and began to recite. "The right of the people. to be secure in their persons, house, papers, and .um.."  
  
Catharine half listened to the skate punk and half listened to Mac. The Colonel was rambling Farsi to the gang. Catharine did concerned chin flicks to one or two to make sure everything was okay. They waved her off and spoke in English that the Marine was just asking a bunch of questions about 'a culture group'.  
  
So, Catharine turned back to the skate punk. Behind her, three women, Jodi included, motioned with smiles and mouthed words to the skate punk to help him with his recitation.  
  
"papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.shall not be violated." he paused and glanced at the helpers behind his professors shoulder.  
  
Harm whispered out of the side of his mouth, knowing damned well Catharine could see his assistance, "and no warrant."  
  
The skate punk grinned, "and no warrant shall issue."  
  
Catharine whapped a hand at Harm. "Don't help him, damnit." She flicked attitude at the punk in a way he understood. "You know it, huh? Huh?!" The woman sounded like a company commander with a ghetto verbiage.  
  
Mac had turned now and crossed her arms to watch and listen to this complete loser-by-definition manage to recite most of the fourth amendment by memory.  
  
He sighed at the sky at suddenly being center stage and worked out the rest of it. "but upon probable cause.supported by oath or affirmation.." he whipped his head with a smile. "Awe man!"  
  
Catharine chuckled at him, gave him a friendly slap on the back, and waved him off. "Come back tomorrow and try again."  
  
"Awe c'mon, Catharine. I almost had it."  
  
Catharine turned and put her hands out to the smoker's crowd. "Show me off, guys. Come on." Some chuckled, some pointed at themselves with brows of shock, some shook their heads at her like she was nuts. Catharine took out another cigarette and motioned at them like she was conducting a symphony. "C'mon! Don't embarrass me in front of these lawyers." She thumbed back at Harm.  
  
Harm chuckled at all this.  
  
One started, then two more chimed in. Three mumbled it the whole way through. But most, Arabs included, got into a beat and ended up yelling it at Catharine like a classroom that was tired of the whole thing. "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause! supported by oath or affirmation! and particularly describing the place to be searched! and the persons! or things! to be seized!!"  
  
Catharine slapped her hands in victory and swiveled back to Harm and now Mac as well. "And Wellington calls them hopeless. Can you believe that?" A few of them had moved on to the Fifth Amendment, but were quieter about it and testing each other on it again.  
  
Mac nodded impressed. "What course is it for?"  
  
"Intro to Criminal Justice. The have to recite four, five and six before they can pass my class."  
  
Harm angled his head with an impressed grin. He started stepping passed her with a wave. "Thank you for your time."  
  
"Anytime." Catharine said with a smile and swiveled over to join her crew who were now fumbling with laughter through the sixth amendment.  
  
Mac and Harm strolled back toward the parking lot, grinning at their attempt. Catharine waved at Jodi and bitched at Liz, "She's not even in my class and she can still do it! Wassa matter with you?"  
  
The group was just as loud as they were leaving as they were when they showed up hours earlier. Mac chuckled and shook her head when they moved out of earshot. "That was enlightening."  
  
Harm grinned at memories as he strolled through the cars. "What a rag tag bunch." He glanced back and then ducked his chin to watch where his feet were going. "That skate board kid almost had it though." He rose brows and shook his head, impressed that such a crew would work so hard to remember an article out of the Bill of Rights, much less three.  
  
"Only one of the guys seemed to know what AWIQ was but didn't claim to know any one in it. Half of them couldn't even speak Farsi, but I still think they're holding something back."  
  
"They're nervous because of the war. Did you notice that there weren't any Arabs inside the campus?"  
  
She nodded and sighed at the misfortune. "Yeah. They were all in the smoking area but most of them weren't smoking. I guess segregation has taken on a new race of victims."  
  
They walked a full minute before speaking again.  
  
"Are you as exhausted as I am?" He asked, pulling out the rental key.  
  
She nodded and climbed into the passenger's seat. "Technically, Harm, we've been on the clock since yesterday morning."  
  
"I feel like it too." He shoved the key in the ignition but didn't turn it on. He took off his hat and tossed it into the backseat. For a long moment, he squinted out the windshield to rearrange his thoughts before even pulling his last foot into the car. He posed a question. "Is Chief Wallis' life in danger?"  
  
"Inconclusive." She said. "Probably not, but we don't know for certain." She glanced over to him.  
  
He pulled his last foot in and closed the door. "Let's check out the landlord's and the recruiters. then, if it still looks like AWOL, we go back to the hotel and sleep."  
  
The data at the Landlord's matched the data in the police file. They apartment had been emptied and cleaned like the man simply moved away. It was a small one bedroom, in a complex of the same, in a neighborhood of similar, non-descript apartment complexes. Nice, but not expensive. Cared for, but not sculptured.  
  
No one saw the furnishings actually leave and the landlord couldn't guess at seeing him or his things any more recent than two months ago. He was a private man, she described. Was only at the complex a year and the only previous address on her record was USS Mauna Kea out of San Diego. He had no girlfriends, no football buddies, no pets... She verified he had moved furnishings into the place, but hadn't seen the inside of it until the police arrived asking questions.  
  
Her answers ended with a shrug and Mac and Harm left with more new questions than they had answers.  
  
They went to the recruiter's office where Wallis worked, and grew more comfortable the closer they got to the door. The place was full of enlisted sailors and marines, but, for the first time since they left Washington, it was the only place full of uniforms following codes of conduct and acceptable practices in social ethics.  
  
Half of them stood to greet them at the door. Mac smiled at a nervous RIF and nodded at him with a quiet, 'at ease'. A Gunny came out of the back of the room to shake the Colonel's hand, then the Commander's. As soon as they announced their names and place of business, the Gunny clasped his hands behind his back, "You're here about the Chief, ma'am?"  
  
They nodded.  
  
He motioned them directly to one of the two actual offices in the mini-mall outlet of a recruiters station and closed the door behind him. "This was his office. I've turned in a great deal of paperwork to the police and they've already questioned the entire staff here, but I'm happy to expound on anything you may be concerned about."  
  
Harm casually strolled behind the desk and looked in the drawers. Mac let her eyes graze over the framed recruitment posters and the books on the shelf. Neither saw anything of a personal nature.  
  
"Has there been any terrorist or protest group activity recently?"  
  
"Terrorist, no, ma'am. Protestors, yes, ma'am. AWIQ leaves us flyers on the door at night and our cars while we're in here. The last one was about two weeks ago."  
  
"Have there been any disgruntled recruits returning to speak with the Chief?"  
  
Gunny shook his head. "No, sir."  
  
Harm stood on both feet and cross his arms. "When was the last time any of you heard from the Chief?"  
  
"Friday night right after knock off, sir. He got into his truck like he always did," he shrugged, "and I guess he just went home. We got worried when he didn't show up for duty on Monday, but the police were already here asking questions by the time we really felt we needed to follow up on it."  
  
Mac glanced over. "Where is his truck?"  
  
Gunny shook his head. "I don't know that, ma'am."  
  
Harm looked around the room one more time. "Did the police look through here?"  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
Harm winced. "Did they take anything?"  
  
"No, sir. This is as the Chief left it."  
  
Mac sighed. Harm pressed his mouth. "Thank you, Gunny. Can you give us a minute?"  
  
Gunny nodded, muttered 'yes, ma'am' and respectfully left the room.  
  
As soon as the door was closed, Harm looked over the room again, strolling to look at pictures, dust marks, anything that would clue some kind of use in the room. "What do you think?"  
  
"The Chief didn't have much of a life to leave behind. That fits AWOL, not murder victim."  
  
"What time is it?"  
  
"Fifteen thirty two."  
  
Harm nodded and moved back around the desk. "All right. Let's kill it for the day."  
  
She nodded and stepped to the door, disappointed that they'd done so much work and came up with a handful of nothing. She put her hand on the knob but paused before opening it. Mac didn't look back at him exactly. She shook her head with a shy wince. "It's not Harriett, is it?"  
  
It took a moment for him to realize what she was talking about. Harm caught his breath and dropped his head backward to stare with indignant disbelief at the ceiling.  
  
"Well," she winced and shrugged. "What do you expect me to do if you won't tell me?" She pulled open the door with a grin before he had a chance to answer.  
  
Harm and Mac gave the Gunny their cards and told him where they were staying in case anything came up. They were still in the beginning of their investigation, so they promised they'd be back from time to time over the next several days. The Gunny escorted them to their vehicles as they discussed the crud of contact and saluted before turning away.  
  
Harm climbed in the car and watched the marine march far out of earshot. Then he turned on the ignition and shot a loud blat at her. "Of course it's not Harriett!"  
  
Harriett Sims was sweet and pretty and the closest thing Mac had to a best girl friend. Mac took insult and rose her brows. "Why not?"  
  
Harm rolled his eyes, winced hard, and turned to back out of the stall. He fought with the words and ended up practically yelling at her. "First of all, she's Bud's wife and second, she's not my type."  
  
Mac's eyes twinkled at him that she got him all riled up and it just made him squirm in his seat and huff through his nose that much more. There was something about his internal combustion that wasn't exactly angry. Mac listened to the emotions whistle through the car and gazed out at the mini- malls and fast food restaurants. "Are you hungry?"  
  
Harm's voice was quiet and almost casual again. "A little. but not enough to back to that diner. The food was terrible."  
  
Mac grinned and pointed as she saw it. "How about The Outback?"  
  
She had to be doing it on purpose. Harm let out noise of disbelief. His eyes rolled to her to see if she was serious.  
  
She shrugged a grin and chuckled at him, looking away again to watch the restaurant pass by. "When did you get on this an anti-Australian kick?"  
  
Harm angled his chin at the road in front of him. "Ever since you got engaged to one."  
  
Brown eyes smiled out the windshield. "I'm not engaged anymore," she pointed out lightly  
  
"And thank god for that," he grumbled.  
  
"So, can we eat at The Outback?"  
  
He flicked a wince at her, "No."  
  
"Well, where do you want to eat?" She challenged.  
  
His patience was dwindling and his energy was going right down with it. "I don't know, Mac." He stopped at a light and propped his elbow up on the windshield just so he could prop his temple in his fist. "I'm tempted to just order a pizza and go to bed."  
  
She had to admit it. She was tired too, but Harm had certainly fallen deeper into grumpiness than she, and he had just as much sleep as she did.  
  
"That sounds good," she said with a light nod. She watched his expression as he drove again, getting through the light and making his way quickly back to the hotel.  
  
She softened her voice. "What's the matter, Harm?"  
  
He swallowed but didn't look over. He shook his head just barely enough to recognize it. "I don't want to talk about it," he muttered.  
  
She felt the tension on his shoulders stiffen even more and get worse as the seconds ticked. Her good mood was sinking down the drain right behind him, because of him, so she remained silent until they disappeared individually in their side by side hotel rooms. She changed quickly into jeans and a lilac blouse, noticing the adjoining door between their rooms as she put her clothes away.  
  
She opened her side of the door and could hear him phoning the Admiral with an update. She knocked lightly.  
  
In the middle of his report, he opened the door for her without a glance or skipping a beat in his sentence. He was half-stripped from his uniform, but was still in the black slacks and white dress shirt. There was nothing to report really, so the conversation was quick, and Mac ducked out of the room again to let him finish changing and her to order the pizza. They were both done nearly at the same time and opened the joining doors again simultaneously.  
  
Both paused, not expected the other there, and grinned about it a little.  
  
Awkward moment number 480.  
  
Harm stepped back to the little table and opened his briefcase.  
  
"I ordered the pizza," she said, sitting down in the first U shaped chair she reached and crossed her legs like she was in high heals. He nodded, pulling out files and stacking them on the table. Then he moved to the laptop case and started setting that up too.  
  
He was in jeans and a t-shirt with some little red label advertisement on the breast, and he had managed to put on his sneakers as well. If it was anybody else, he would look boring, non descript, unimpressive, but on Harm, everything looked good. Mac yanked her mind back, her eyes down, and pursed any expression from her mouth.  
  
He was still being silent, so Mac leaned an elbow on the table and pulled the files in her direction. She opened one, browsed over it, and opened another one with a sigh. "We should split up tomorrow," she suggested while he was leaning over the table to get the laptop to boot up. "I can ask around more at the college while you trace the steps of the investigator."  
  
He winced at her. "I should be the one that goes back to the college. They were talking more to me than they were to you."  
  
"That's because you were the one jumping in to ask all the questions. I hardly got a word in edge-wise."  
  
"Flip for it?" He offered indignantly. He was already reaching to the dresser top to pick up a quarter from the pile of junk that came out of his uniform pocket.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Call it." He flipped.  
  
"Tails."  
  
He glanced at her as he caught it in the air and slapped it on his hand. He looked at it. "Heads."  
  
He grinned for the first time in what seemed hours and flipped it to her, but it was a tight grin at that. "Some things were just meant to be."  
  
She flattened her mouth and caught it in the air. She put it down and looked at the file again, seeing nothing new. He moved around the room to hang his uniform back up and find places for things, clearly getting ready for a reasonable stay. Eventually, he opened the curtains and looked out the window. He rested his shoulder against the wall and the other hand on his hip and looked out at nothing off to the side of the building.  
  
Mac realized she was watching him again and sighed at herself. She closed the file and pushed the stack away, deciding to deal with it tomorrow. She rubbed her eyes with her fingers and let her hair flop around her hands. The tense silence was driving her nuts and spilling out in her tone, "Would you please stop that."  
  
Harm's eyes glanced back and forth with confusion before landing on her. "Stop what?"  
  
"Stop." she paused and glared at him with her nails clawing the air until she found the words, "being so quiet." She realized how stupid it sounded and died into her palms as her words came to an end.  
  
"Excuse me," he huffed quietly. He strolled around the bed and flopped back into the other chair at the table. He pushed away the laptop to put his arm on the table and propped his feet on the bed.  
  
Mac's voice rose. "Are you mad because I kept trying to guess who it is?"  
  
"No," he said loudly, "I'm upset because you kept trying to guess who it is."  
  
This made no sense to her. "Why?"  
  
He whined it, "Because it's none of your business, Mac."  
  
That hurt. She rolled her head away and sighed at the air.  
  
"Take a hint when you get one and drop it. You do with everyone else, why can't you do that with me?" He pulled in a sigh. "I mean, yes, we are best friends. But gimme a break." He winced and flopped a hand at her. "Do you have wet dreams about people you know?"  
  
She looked at him with a raised brow.  
  
He dropped his hand. "Or whatever it is women call them."  
  
She arranged her jaw before answering.  
  
He read her expression and grinned that he made his point already. He crossed his arms in arrogance. "So you tell me who it is?  
  
Mac couldn't meet his eyes anymore. "That's different, Harm."  
  
"Why?" He rose his brows at her. "Because you're a woman?" Any mention of inequality, even in a case of chivalry or politeness, usually pushed her buttons right off the topic.  
  
She fought with it and eventually shook her head. "No. Because-" she caught her own words and let out a breath.  
  
"See?" He flopped his hands out to his sides. "There's no difference."  
  
She considered this and pushed out of her chair. She wrapped her arms around herself and strolled, stopping at the gate that was his legs.  
  
Harm pulled his legs down for her to pass and put them back as soon as she did. He saw the discomfort on her shoulders and let his tone soften away from the argument. "Dreams are like." he thought a moment, "the way your subconscious practices without making any mistakes. That's why people have dreams, Mac. That's how our emotions play when our brains are out for the night. It's all the stuff we want or hate or fear when it can't be reasoned away." He watched her back as she stared out the window.  
  
She slowly sat down on the other side of the bed with motions to alienate him.  
  
He dropped his head back against the chair. This probably wasn't going to be over until she knew. It was 80 degrees in October and already looking to be a long cold winter.  
  
"Harm," she said with depression in her voice. She paused two beats longer than usual.  
  
Harm opened his eyes to see her back still to him on the other side of the room.  
  
"I just don't like the faces that came to mind." She ducked her chin like the thought broke her heart. "You date some of the worst possible women sometimes. and nobody you know, that I know, is worth the heartache."  
  
He snarled a little. "You've never approved any of my girlfriends."  
  
She snarled a rebuke without turning. "You've never approved any of my boyfriends."  
  
He crossed his arms, cocking his head at her back. "And why do you think that is, Mac?"  
  
She rose her chin at the window but didn't answer the question. Her shoulders had melted a touch and her torso was moving with deep controlled breathing.  
  
Harm ducked his chin as he watched her. His voice was gentle and careful at the same time. "You're upset because you already know who it is, and you're afraid that you're right."  
  
He watched carefully to find enough of a reaction in her body language to know it was true. That's why she wouldn't let up about it. He pulled an arm up to fiddle with a tiny fold in a file on the table.  
  
She tried to smile. "Facts not in evidence," but her voice came out a beaten, even if it wasn't a square rebuttal.  
  
Harm licked his lips and flicked the tiny fold back and forth with his index finger. "Sarah?" He reeled as much in as he could, but there was enough floating around to make his words weaken his voice to the point of tender. "You already know who it is."  
  
She angled her head as if she were going to turn around to him, but stopped. She straitened her back. She lifted her chin with a slow inhale and then held it there for a long moment. She angled her head a little more until he could see the side of her face but not her eyes. She grinned pathetically. "I guess your right," she said with a dry swallow, "There is no difference."  
  
He lowered his eyes to his feet. A half grin snuck away from his control and grew across his face as a careful sigh cooled the heat in his chest.  
  
Mac turned on the bed enough to look back at him. Her deep browns bold and pained and pleading for the tension to just go away. Harm's eyes flicked back up to her from under his brows. His baby blues were serious and shining and guarded to keep this from blowing this out of control. How is it he could handle a fighter jet, keep his cool in court, manage the worst of people in the worst of situations, but came bumping up against the edge of the envelope practically every time he was alone with her?  
  
She put a palm out on the bed to lean her locked arm on it and winced aloud at the ceiling. "No." It ended it a cross between whimper and a chuckle and she let it carry her all the way down until her head and shoulders and arms flopped dead on the bed. Her heart was trying to soar, but it kept slamming against a rock in her stomach.  
  
Awkward moment number 481.  
  
Harm pulled his legs off the bed only to set his elbows on his knees and hide in his hands. "Mac?" He said almost humored and swallowed. "Will you please get off my bed?"  
  
Mac yanked her eyes open, realized it, and then grinned awkwardly as she pushed herself to a stand. "Sorry."  
  
He was also grinning at the awkwardness and wasn't trying to hide it, but he wasn't going to meet her eyes either. She stepped around the bed again and Harm watched her bare feet pass him. She nearly whispered it. "I'll knock when the pizza gets here."  
  
He scratched the back of his neck, "Thank you."  
  
Mac pulled the joining doors closed, but not enough for them to lock themselves shut again. He heard her flop onto her bed and he grinned at the floor. He closed his eyes and groped his way to his bed, crawling on his hands and knees until his head was in one corner and his feet were in the opposite. He struggled to get a pillow from the bedspread and stuffed it under his chest and head. Then closed his eyes and smiled wistfully the same time his brows slanted into a pout.  
  
Mac stared up at the ceiling, hugging a pillow to her chest, until the pizza kid showed up thirty minutes later. She was thankful when he arrived. She wasn't swimming in thoughts or arguments or puzzles over what to do about it. She was only seeing images in her mind, snap shots of memory, emotions, voices.. It wasn't quick or rushed. Many times one or another memory would just flash up front and hang on her mind like static cling.  
  
She paid the pizza kid and set it and the sodas on the table. Since the 'office' turned out to be his room, she decided to offer the 'dining room' to be in hers. Just her luck. She moved quietly to the door and listened before knocking, and called his name softly before opening the door.  
  
He was stretched out on his stomach, angled at 45 degrees on the bed, and sound asleep.  
  
"Harm?" she whispered, grinning at his cute snooze when she stepped around enough to see his face. She second-guessed sitting on the bed and talking him awake, and she knew better than to shake him. She glanced for an idea and momentarily considered throwing a pillow at his head from the furthest possible position.  
  
She gritted her teeth into a grin as she tossed that idea out, and finally just lowered to her knees and folded her elbows on the bed near his face. She pushed her voice out just a little louder. "Harm?"  
  
He inhaled loudly as it poked into his mind and he winced to move his head towards the noise. He squinted one eye open at her, closed them again, and dropped his face into the pillow.  
  
She's seen him wake up before, smiled to watch it again. "The pizza's here."  
  
He nodded into his pillow, then rolled onto his back with fast blinks and a deep clear voice. "Yeah." He closed his eyes for a pause, and then sat up to climb off the bed.  
  
Mac went to her feet and smiled warmly at him as she moved back through the door. Harm followed her a few steps afterward, still blinking himself awake as he remembered the pizza.  
  
They talked just to help pretend they hadn't had the conversation that they'd had and the topic bounced lazily from nothing important to completely insignificant to help pretend that they didn't know any of the new or confirmed information that they knew. By the time the pizza was gone, they were chuckling at each other's stupid jokes again and fighting lightly like brother and sister over who got to do what with the case. This was all well and good, except that a recognizable layer of tension was gone.  
  
That tension had been their safety net for years. Each time something happened to peal off too thick of a layer, one of them would get scared and unfailingly find something wrong to thicken it back up again, usually more than it was before. Neither of them let themselves see it that way, but it kept them safe from each other and the system managed to develop on its own.  
  
This time, though, all attempts to get into a fight were half-hearted at best and ended up in a series of snickering into cola cans or over-loud argument that had more of a grin than a growl. It was comfortable and terrifying at the same time. No matter what the insult was or what the argument was or who ended up getting the last word, the new knowing twinkle still sparkled at each other, diffusing every subconscious attempt to get back into the same old swing.  
  
Harm let her have the last of the last words with a grin on his mouth and a shake of his head like he wasn't listening anyway, which drove her nuts enough to feel like she hadn't gotten the last word, which brought her to throw several more arguments into the pit, which spawned another grin and shake of his head.  
  
He took a deep sigh, climbed out of the chair, and glanced over at her from under one eyebrow before moving to the joining doors.  
  
She huffed through her nose at him as he stepped away, and then raised her chin to shoot her final round at him. "Sweet dreams."  
  
He was nearly through the doors, but his eyes flicked back with an index finger at her.  
  
Mac smiled from ear to ear at him, happy as a clam that she won.  
  
He gritted his teeth to form a complaint, an order, or any last word that would stick, but everything that came to mind tripped and fell into the gutter.  
  
His exhale collapsed out in a tired chuckle and sparkling eyes. He ended up shaking his finger at her in wordless complaint and pushed himself through the doors.  
  
Mac bit her lower lip with a giggle as he dramatically closed and locked his door behind him. 


	3. Thursday

Thursday  
  
Mac's task was to dig for clues in records. Harm's task was to dig for clues in witnesses. It was seven thirty when she dropped him off at the campus and sped off for her own hunt. Harm carried his briefcase as he marched into campus, making him look like a lawyer, but wore his khakis this time to try to tone it down. Based on the reactions yesterday, he felt he could get more answers if he wasn't wearing so much black and gold.  
  
As he walked easily to the Dean's office, he could see his plan was already working. Fewer people glanced at him, and those that did hadn't given him a double take like he was a police officer or something. He reported in to the secretary and requested a handful of more information about some students, and she provided everything in the quickest and friendliest manner she could have. He was offered coffee and donuts, with which accepted gratefully. And the Dean offered himself as an escort to aid his hunt and questioning, but that Harm had immediately declined.  
  
He was starting to understand the dynamics around here. The traditional educators were stuffed in offices and behind classroom desks, and perhaps the traditional students were hiding in study halls he had yet to see. The more liberal group of students, the party animals and the class clowns, far outnumbered them. They filled the courtyards and the lawns, the coffee shop and the cafeteria and probably boiled over in the classrooms and forums. He'd heard stories of people who'd attended college at Berkeley and Santa Cruz. It was decades later, but location-wise, this college wasn't that far away. With the exception of blatant drug use, this place fit the stories.  
  
On his way out of the Admin building and strolling to his next stop, he saw Catharine Kohlby yell her DI voice and foul language at students when she stomped up the steps to a Forum. The students parted for her with chuckles and grins and filed in after she unlocked the door and disappeared.  
  
Harm angled his head, let his eyes graze over the students in the quad, and stepped out in that direction. Students were skipping up the steps, swarming around him, and rushing to get into her class. The forum was loud and crowded. Over three hundred people, young and old, filled the seats. Most of them had or were getting out note paper but many were kicking back with their feet on the chair in front of them and their ball caps backwards or sideways like it was Saturday night at a cheap theatre.  
  
Catharine was sitting top of the empty desk in the front of the room, swinging her short legs and yelling at people like she was blatantly disappointed with everything. "Don't you dare try to say my Ram's are gonna lose against the Niner's!" A few laughed and scoffed at her. She pointed at another one. "Oh and you insult me by wearing a Niner's jacket to my class." She shook her head at how preposterous this was and let her gaze land on a young giggling girl who wasn't sure how to take this. "Can you believe this guy?" She shook her head again as she looked up to see if the students were done coming through the doors yet. She saw Harm and waved him to come down to her.  
  
As he moved down the steps, Catharine hooted out her deepest voice to her students. "How many people don't want to be here today?!"  
  
Harm glanced to see only two people raise their hands and shout responses. As soon as they did, a dozen other students shouted and threw wads of paper at them. Catharine winced and whined, climbing off the desk. "Awe man! I wanted to leave today, too." She joined him standing when he stepped up and smiled up at him. "Hi, how ya doing?"  
  
"Quite a class you've got here." He grinned, meaning it as a compliment, but his eyes grazed over the largest collection of the most criminal- looking people he'd ever seen outside of a prison.  
  
She looked over the forum with a glimmer of pride as she responded. The first half of her statement was quiet, "Some of them are learning something," the second half was loud snarling, "But some of them are just plain stupid!"  
  
Harm's brows rose, but rose more when they responded to it. Some laughed, some shouted rebuttal, some just giggled and agreed. None of them took it seriously.  
  
Catharine chuckled and turned to Harm again, letting the joke of it fall away from her expression. "What can I do for you?"  
  
Harm motioned shyly, suddenly wondering why he was even asking. "Actually, I was wondering if I could sit and listen for a few minutes." He was worried that his presence might disrupt the class, but he wasn't sure how much more disruptive the forum could get.  
  
Catharine grinned and nodded, waving a hand at the audience. "Be my guest." She sat back on the desk, swinging her feet again.  
  
Harm turned, climbing back up the steps to find the closest empty chair to the door. The last couple of students filed through the door as Harm sat down next to the aisle. He grinned in greeting at the set of teen-aged Asian girls beside him, and settled his elbows into the arm rests. He watched the dynamics of the room. There were no apparent lines of social structure and outside a couple here or a threesome there, there were no visible cliques or groups in the room. By their clothing, body posture and race, he saw that the tough blacks, gangster Hispanics, punk white males and age beaten females were all littered about the room as if there were no such thing as racism.  
  
The crowd settled and Catharine hooted out to the room while she raised her hand. "Who's ready for the Fourth Amendment?  
  
Two raised their hands. She motioned for one of them to stand up. "Let's do it."  
  
The same skate punk from yesterday stood up from the crowd and swallowed hard. He fumbled through it, but managed the whole thing without any more assistance than the coaxing smile from Catharine. He sighed with relief when he was done and Catharine let him sit down.  
  
The other student got nervous and backed out before she even stood up. Catharine gave her a wave of forgiveness and jumped off the desk. "In 1991, the paradigm of policing changed from 'You're the bad guys and we're the good guys', to something that actually started to look like 'serving and protecting'." She slid her hands in the baggy pockets of her jeans and strolled easily around the room. "Why?"  
  
"Rodney King," someone spoke out.  
  
She flapped her arm at them. "Someone taped a black man being beaten by four white cops. They put it on television, acquitted the cops, and the country went fucking nuts." She looked over the room. "But why did that change the way cops work?" She shrugged at them. "Did the laws change?"  
  
"No," several said.  
  
"What changed?"  
  
A young man spoke out. "Because none of the brothers was willing to deal with the shit anymore."  
  
She leaned over in his direction with a grinning growl of agreement. "We the people!" She stood up again, "have the right not to get our asses kicked by our own fucking police force!" Her voice boomed at them, echoing through the room. "We the people have the right to speak freely." She shrugged a grin. "We have the right not to speak at all. We have the rights!" She stood tall again, looking at them and letting the echo rest. "A bunch of old white men in wigs got together over two hundred years ago and wrote that shit down. Why didn't it work until after the Rodney King incident?"  
  
"It did work," someone insisted. "It just wasn't working for everyone."  
  
She snapped her fingers at the student. "Exactly." She raised her hand in the air, "How many people have been pulled over without probable cause?" A half a dozen shot their hands into the air. She whipped her hand at the collection. "Ain't one white among yuz." She strolled across the front, looking at them. "What did you do about it?" They shook their heads and shrugged. "Did you get a ticket? Were you hauled in?" One raised their hand.  
  
She stopped, setting her foot on a step. "What happened? What did you do?"  
  
The kid started sinking into his chair.  
  
"Ten points if you tell us the story." She told him and a quiet wave of applause rooted him on.  
  
The Hispanic kid told a story about being pulled over and arrested for possession with every possible insult and ugly word about the white officer that hauled him in. The court-appointed attorney never even asked why he was pulled over and the kid never told his attorney what to do. He simply answered the man's questions and obeyed the man's orders. He had no bail to offer and spent six months waiting for his trial. He ended up going away with time served.  
  
Catharine didn't flinch at any of this. She simply clarified a few terms and flicked her chin at him when he was finished. "Was it your shit?"  
  
He angled his head, bouncing with embarrassment until he grinned and admitted it.  
  
She rose her brows at him, "Do you think you should you have done time over it? Even if he had no reason to pull you over?"  
  
He angled his head and winced a little. "Yes and no." She demanded he expand his answer. "Yes, it was mine and I shouldn't have had it in my car, but damn that place was just wrong."  
  
Catharine laughed at this and gave him sing song as she turned away to stroll again. "Oh, so now you've learned your lesson and keep it in your house?"  
  
"No man," he grinned and pulled out a wad of plastic. "I keep it in my pocket." The saran wrap tucked right back into his pocket again.  
  
The buddy next to him threw his head back and laughed. The class hooted up shock and chuckles and 'stupid idiot'. Harm's eyes bulged out of his head.  
  
Catharine's eyes widened with a big, audacious smile at him. "You bring your shit into my classroom?!" She turned away and stomped down into the front again, her mouth open with shock and cussing under her breath, but her eyes twinkled. Her fists were at her sides as she came around to the other stairs, clearly marching to reach him and confiscate the stuff. She gave Harm a glance as she approached, shaking her head with humored, parental worry.  
  
The guys around him were snickering madly and he shook his head. The kid pulled out again and actually showed it to Catharine as she approached. "No man, it's just the wrap from my sandwich."  
  
She reached over four bodies to yank it from his hand. The room sniggered and giggled and hid their faces. Catharine looked at it and unwadded it a little to see the bits of mayonnaise and mustard.  
  
She rose her fist in the air. "Come here so I can beat you."  
  
He snickered his face red.  
  
Her brows rose with her voice, and she started to sound like she meant it. "Come here so I can beat you!" He shook his head. "Why can't I beat you? You threaten to bring drugs into my class room. You insult me on my turf! Don't I have the right to beat your face in?"  
  
He shook his head, still laughing, "No."  
  
Her fist was still in the air and her voice was still loud, but the tone had changed. "What if I were still a cop? Then could I do it? Doesn't the badge give me the right to go around and fuck with anyone I please?"  
  
More voices poked in. "No."  
  
She dropped her hand like she was disappointed that she couldn't beat him. "Well, if I can't beat the crap out of you, can I just walk up to you on the street and search you? What the hell is in your other pocket?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Why not?!" She put her arms out. "Why not!?" She waved the plastic in the air with a giggle. "This looks like probable cause to me!" There were giggles and quiet answers and scoffs still rolling through the room.  
  
She stepped back to the front of the room with her hands in her pockets and bent over like she was marching through a ghetto. Her voice was dead serious. "You make a joke like that, buddy, its probable cause." She wadded the plastic harder and threw it at Miguel. "And damn strait too if you had the shit on you, huh?"  
  
Miguel shrugged and ducked, agreeing reluctantly.  
  
Catharine smiled at that, grumbling lovingly at him. "Naw, you did your time. You know better by now. Right, Miguel?"  
  
Miguel was suddenly shy about it. His eyes flicked up from under his pouting brows.  
  
"Right?!" She bent over and yelled a smile.  
  
He rolled his head, grinned and nodded. "Right."  
  
Catharine sat back down on the naked dexk and rocked her legs back and forth. Her voice was yelling into a new ferver. "The reason why everyone got so worked up over the Rodney King beating was that the public was not shown the entire tape!" She sat down on her desk again and held the edge of it between her knees. "And the media didn't show us the entire tape because they wanted us to get so worked up about it!"  
  
She paused and looked over everyone to see their reactions. "The man was rude. He was resisting arrest. He was being lewd, crude and obnoxious. and the media didn't want us to see it.. Does that give the police the right to beat his face in?"  
  
"No!" The students were starting to get worked up now.  
  
She chuckled, "No!"  
  
Harm chuckled and climbed out of his chair. He gave Catharine a wave of thanks while he stepped back to the door and Catharine waved thanks back at him, but was content to sit on top of her desk, swing her legs, and let her eyes shine at three hundred teenagers and misfortuned adults shout debates at her.  
  
Harm slid out of the classroom warmed by the episode, and started seeing things a little differently. She wasn't trying to look or act like a formal professor. This was obvious yesterday, but he didn't understand it. Today, her reasons became clear. The informal speech and loud insults and joking was what these students responded to.  
  
"Hi Bud, it's Mac." She said into her cell phone from her parked car. "I need a few files to be dug up fed exed over. Do you have some time?. Great. I need the service records of the following people.." she listed off three names and socials to him and gave him further instructions to hunt down clues of Wallis' location federally. Bud was happy to oblige.  
  
Mac winced at a puzzle in her mind. "Do you have a moment you can look up a name for me?"  
  
Bud did so.  
  
Mac retrieved a file and looked in it. "Young, Steve. Retired. No social."  
  
Bud typed and reported. "Young, Steve Alan. AWCS. 1965. Honorable discharge 1969, joined back up in 1971. Retired 1987. VP-19 Moffett Field California."  
  
"That's the guy. How does his record look?"  
  
"Well, Ma'am, just on the overview he looks like a good sailor. One letter of reprimand from 1968. Eh, drunk on duty while. ported in Saigon on the. USS Enterprise. But everything else are awards and accommodations."  
  
"Descendents?"  
  
Bud hit the keys to turn the computer page. "Yes. ah. sort of. Wife Jean. Married 1967. Died 1991. Daughter Jodi born 1969. Son Gary born 1971. Died 1987."  
  
Mac thought a moment, her brows rippling at the air as the dates of dependents matched up with the dates of his service. "You got the daughter's social on there? Look her up."  
  
"Young, Jodi Jennifer. 1988. ET Third Class. SIMA San Francisco. Honorable discharge 1992, but it's an RE-3.. parenthood hardship. Two awards, the VFW ribbon, and three infractions. You want them?"  
  
The woman joined the year her brother died and was in when her mother died. "Go ahead."  
  
"Assault and battery. unlawful discharge of a firearm. and unauthorized absence."  
  
"When?"  
  
"All in 1991."  
  
"Guess she couldn't handle her mother's death." Mac breathed. You said parenthood hardship. Tell me about the dependent."  
  
"Young, Charles Gary, born April 1992 Travis AFB California. No father is listed on the birth certificate."  
  
Mac rubbed her lips together and thought on that, wondering why this felt strange even without a connection.  
  
Bud started to giggle and answered before Mac had the chance to ask why. "On her forwarding address she put, '5150 Nunya Bidness, Bumfrucked City, AK.'"  
  
The woman didn't want to be found. No wonder she had such a strangely negative reaction to them yesterday. Mac grinned a little, "Dig that one up for me too and send it with the fed ex."  
  
"Yes, ma'am. Anyone else you want me to look up?"  
  
"No, thanks Bud, that'll do."  
  
He asked how California was and Mac sighed, describing the weirdness of the place as she looked around the parking lot she was in. "I don't know, Bud. I guess they gotta collect somewhere." Her eyes landed on a billboard.  
  
"Well, give the Commander my regards. I'll have your fedex at your hotel tomorrow and I'll give the Admiral your status."  
  
"Thanks, Bud. Take care." She hung up, but her eyes were still stuck on the bill board. It was an ad for a motel, with a gentle, sleepers blindfold on a made up bed with the words, "Sweet dreams."  
  
Mac bit her lower lip in thought, sighed a little, and tossed her phone to the passenger's seat where the new county and police files were piling up. She looked back up at the billboard, then to the shopping mall she was parked at, and then to the car's clock to consider how much time she had before he appointment with Sacramento JAG. Mac pulled her black purse from the back seat, grabbed the car key, and climbed out to do a little sneaky shopping.  
  
After three interviews of nothing substantial, Harm found himself in front of the Tutor Lab with a new idea. The center was crowded and a level of noise filled the air. Small round tables and cheap green desk chairs cluttered room and most were filled with students, books, papers and name- tag wearing tutors.  
  
He strolled over to the secretary's desk and was greeted by the beautiful, smiling woman he'd seen yesterday. "Are you looking for Jodi?"  
  
He shook his head and stopped in front of his desk, "No actually I was wondering if I could get some unconventional assistance. The students come here to get help with their papers. Do you keep any copies of the papers or records on their content?"  
  
She nodded. "Depends on the student. We keep copies for the 73 students, but not the drop ins."  
  
"Are there any privacy policies on them?"  
  
She winced and flapped her hand at him. "Oh, no. Anybody can read them."  
  
"Is it possible I could look at the papers a few of your students?" He put down his briefcase and picked up his file.  
  
She climbed out of her chair and led him to the file cabinets. "Give me some names."  
  
In minutes, Harm had four fat '73' files and three, skinny 'drop-in' files to browse through and was offered an empty table to look them over. The hand written notes in the folders only commented on their abilities in writing, the papers themselves had comments on their content. He browsed enough to figure out the topic of each paper and paused only on the keywords Iraq and War to read the whole thing. One student defended the decision to go to war, making weak points about terrorism, one student disagreed with the decision, making strong points about the civilian casualties in Iraq. He checked the name again, and slid over his own file to cross reference.  
  
He climbed out of his chair with the student's file and asked the secretary. "Who's the tutor?"  
  
She only had to glance at it. "Jodi." She pointed deep into the room where the woman was. The secretary called over the noise. "Jodi!"  
  
She had her back to them and worked with three students at once but she stopped with a, "Yes ma'am," as she turned and lifted her brows when she saw the Commander. "Yes sir. Uh. yeah." She muttered a complaint at her students who giggled in response. Jodi grinned tightly and turned to file through the room to the desk. She set her hands behind her back and squared her shoulders at him. "What can I do for you, sir?"  
  
The secretary motioned to the file in Harm's hand. He gave it to Jodi. "Are you the tutor for this student?"  
  
She took the file and nodded. "Ahmed. Yeah, I know him. Good kid." She looked at Harm. "Have you talked to him yet?"  
  
Harm adjusted his chin as he motioned back to his table on the other side of the room. "Do you have a minute?"  
  
It could have been a nod, and it could have been a shake of the head, but it was definitely a sly way of avoiding her question. Lawyers.  
  
Jodi glanced back at her crew before stepping over with a deep, controlled sigh and straddled the chair that was already backwards at the table. She folded her arms in front of her and her eyes grazed over his paperwork.  
  
Before he had a chance to speak, a fifty year old man hurried up to Jodi with the energy of a twelve year old. "Hey Jodi, you got a cigarette? Sorry to interrupt." He told Harm.  
  
She pulled out a strange looking pack and handed him one. The man went away.  
  
Harm winced. "What kind of cigarettes are those?"  
  
"Injun smokes." She showed him the face of an Indian chief on the front of the pack. "Pure tobacco. They don't put any extra nicotine or tar or cyanide or syphilis or any of that other stuff that'll kill yeah."  
  
Harm lifted a brow, "How health conscious of you." He slid the file to her to look at closer.  
  
"It's either this or drinking." She shrugged, pulling Ahmed's file in front of her again. "So what do you want to know?"  
  
"Tell me more about this student."  
  
She looked at the file and tucked her bob cut hair behind her ear. "He's young. Maybe twenty. ESL but speaks English pretty well." She shrugged. "I'm pretty sure he's a Muslim but doesn't wear a turban or anything. um." she was at a loss at how to continue.  
  
"Tell me about this paper." He reached to pull out for her and she looked at it.  
  
"I edited this. Good ideas, bad organization," she put it down and met him in the eye, "but he brought it in early so he had time to fix it."  
  
He flicked his chin at it. "What about his opinions?"  
  
She eyed him with a grin and shook her head. "We don't do opinions here. It's lab policy to keep our opinions out of other people's papers. But there's been a lot of papers coming through about the war. It's a great topic to get people worked up into a persuasive essay." She dropped the paper and flicked her fingers at it. "Ahmed's opinions aren't all that unique. I get just as many for as I do against."  
  
"Is there anything unique about this one?"  
  
She frowned to think but shook her head. "Not really. He had troubles forming his ideas in English, so I told him to write the first draft in his native language and translate later." She shrugged. "A week later he brought this in, saying the trick worked. Other than that, he's just the same shyly opinionated kid as the rest of them."  
  
This was getting Harm nowhere. He angled his head and pulled the file back to him and explored another avenue, since she was sitting here. "You said you knew two people on this list." He pulled out the list in question. "Which ones?"  
  
She looked at the list. "Catharine you met. Ahmed we just talked about, and Frank Kasdan."  
  
"Tell me about Frank Kasdan."  
  
"Permanent student. Disabled. Lives in a wheelchair. Nice guy. Quiet. Very religious. Tries to get me to go to church every time he comes in."  
  
Harm nodded. This supported his other data. "Did you get a hold of your father?" When he looked up again, she was looking at an approaching student. She answered him as she took the hand written paper she was offered and pulled out her pen. "Sort of. I left a note that you wanted to talk to him on Saturday just to give him a heads up and he left a smiling Kilroy Was Here face with a question mark." She glanced at him. "It means he's clueless why, but he'll be there with bells on."  
  
Harm ducked a grin.  
  
Jodi was already reading the paper she was given. "The Perfect Date," she read with a smile, glancing at Harm and then handed it back to her student without having written anything on it. "You didn't read it. You have to read it at least once before I will."  
  
The young Asian girl ducked her chin and hid behind a crooked index finger. "Why you say that?"  
  
Jodi read the first line as she gave it back. "The following gentle ham does not exit?" Her brows wrinkled at as the girl took it back and giggled with embarrassment. "I never met a ham I didn't like but I would hope it wasn't going to exit my plate by itself." She waved the girl off but the girl was leaving anyway, whining about typos as she went back to her table.  
  
Harm waved Jodi off. "You can go. Thank you. I don't have anymore questions at this time."  
  
Jodi folded her elbows on the table and eyed him curiously. "May I ask one?" He gave her his attention, but not an invitation. "Why do you need to talk to my father?" She motioned to the student folders. "All your suspects seem to be students. I don't think he's ever even been on campus."  
  
Harm angled his head and pulled in his files to close them up and get them out of her line of sight. "We got his name off a phone record. Chief Wallis called your father after he was last seen."  
  
Jodi's brows rippled curiously. "His work or his house?"  
  
Harm studied her from under his brows, but detected nothing but curiosity and willingness to assist in her expression and tone. "His house."  
  
Her eyes flicked to think. She lifted her chin and slowly lowered it again. Her eyes flicked to him again, but had hardened on something. "When?"  
  
Harm carefully sat up and spoke with a low, careful voice. "Sunday afternoon around three o'clock."  
  
Jodi's mouth started to ripple and her eyes widened a little.  
  
"Were you at your father's house that day?"  
  
Her voice had died to a whisper. "What was Wallis' first name?"  
  
Harm non-chalantly pulled his cell phone from his pocket. "Roy." He auto- dialed without needing to look and let his thumb hover over the Send button. He watched the tiny movements of her expression flick from shock to fear to anger to panic until she pulled in a deep, shaky breath.  
  
"Why don't we go somewhere quieter to talk," he offered, but it clearly wasn't up for debate.  
  
Her wide eyes flicked to him again on complete guard like he was about to arrest her. Harm hit the Send button and lifted his phone to his ear. Jodi shot out of her chair. Harm reached to stop her, but she hadn't moved to the door.  
  
She shot to the secretary's desk, passing him, and he caught her forearm. "Now hang on."  
  
Instead of trying to yank away, she lifted up her other fist in a flash move and her face turned red with anger at him. Her elbow hovered behind her ear and the fist was ready and willing to pound Harm right in the face, but she didn't.  
  
Her eyes flared hard and angry directly into his widened ones. She growled out a stiff warning. "Get your hand off me you son of a bitch!"  
  
Harm froze, wanting to drop the phone and put his other palm out in a show of peace, but didn't want to let the woman go either. In his ear, Mac answered the phone. The talk in the Lab hushed to a silence. Her professor friend shot out of his chair and strolled easily in their direction to diffuse the situation.  
  
And Jodi wasn't phased by any of it. "You may be bigger and badder, buddy, but don't even think I can't break a few teeth of those pretty teeth!"  
  
The professor walked up carefully and spoke softly. "What's going on, Jodi?"  
  
"I'm on my way," Mac said into the phone and hung up.  
  
Harm dropped the cell phone to his lap and put his palm out for peace. "Don't run." He let his fingers come away from her arm but kept his hand in the same reach it was. "You'll only make it worse for yourself."  
  
As soon as he let her go, she let her fist down and spat at him like he was an idiot. "I'm not trying to run!"  
  
"Sit back down." He told her, motioning to the chair. "Tell me what's going on."  
  
She put her palms out in peace to the professor. "I'm okay. I just-" she huffed at the adrenaline and tried to step around him. "I need to make a phone call."  
  
Harm leaped out of his chair to keep her from running off and realized that she was only he headed for the secretary's phone. She was already asking the secretary for the rest of the day off while she dialed and turned back to Harm as she waited it for it to ring.  
  
"Have you found him yet?" She asked with a tight voice.  
  
Harm studied her from the side of his eyes. "No."  
  
"Fuck," she winced and then brought the phone to her mouth, trying to calm her tone. "Hi, this is Jodi Young. I'm Gary Young's mother. Please pull him out of class and keep him in the office. I'm on my way to pick him up.. Room 22. Mr. Craig. Thank you." She slammed the phone down again and pointed a finger at Harm. "I have to go. You can follow me if you want but you are not going to stop me from what I need to do."  
  
He expected her to try and storm passed him but she actually paused to get some kind of agreement out of him.  
  
He nodded carefully. "It depends on what do you need to do."  
  
Jodi huffed at that and flattened her mouth. She ripped off her name tag, threw it on the desk, and moved passed him to leave. "If you want answers, Commander, you're going to have to move faster than that."  
  
Harm kept his eyes on her as he shoved his files into his briefcase and thanked the professor as he slammed it shut. He trotted out the door to follow her and was already on the phone to Mac as he weaved through students in the hallway. Jodi never looked back to see if he was behind her. She walked quickly out of the lab, trotted fast down the stairs, and speed-walked until she was clear for a full run into the parking lot.  
  
It was easy for Harm to catch up and essentially keep up and reported to Mac when she answered the phone again. "I've got something. I don't know what yet. Jodi Young, but she's on the move. Where are you?"  
  
Mac was starting to tell him, but Jodi stopped at a minivan and unlocked it. She glanced back at him when she climbed in. He landed his feet at the driver's door and grabbed it before it closed, trying to keep her there.  
  
Jodi started the car even of the door was still open and he was standing in the way. She could read his face enough to know that his Colonel buddy was too far away to be helpful.  
  
Jodi looked him in the eye and told him in a firm voice. "I am not running from you. Get in and come with me for all I care, but do not stop me from saving my children!"  
  
"I'll call you later." He told Mac and hung up. He grabbed the steering wheel and motioned to her. "Let me drive."  
  
Jodi let out the emergency break and motioned to the passenger's seat. "You don't know where I'm going. Get in or back off... sir."  
  
Harm didn't like this at all, but he trotted quickly around the car and climbed into the passenger's seat. She was already moving the van before his door was even closed. The van was dirtier on the inside than it was on the outside. Beethoven poured out of the speakers until she flicked it off. She squealed out of the parking lot and lit a cigarette at the same time. "How long has he been missing?"  
  
Harm put on his seat belt and held the door handle. "First you tell me what's going on. You told me you didn't know Chief Wallis."  
  
She turned her face to him and screamed. "How long has he been missing?!" Her face was more frightened than it was angry.  
  
Harm started to get the bigger picture. "Five days."  
  
She huffed over the steering wheel at that, breathing heavily and folding her lips in thought. "He's a fucking Chief?" she heaved a few more times. "I can't believe you made him a fucking Chief?!" She rubbed her forehead. "I swear you people can get shit so ass backwards sometimes."  
  
He tried to make his voice break through her thoughts and watch the road at the same time. "Jodi, talk to me."  
  
She acted like she didn't even hear him, "How long has he been stationed here?"  
  
"Jodi," he lowered his voice with stiff earnest. "I can't help you unless you tell me what's going on."  
  
Her face flashed to him with a deep disbelieving snarl. "Oh, gimme a break, Commander, you didn't come here to help me!"  
  
He wanted to argue that to get his answers, but she was right.  
  
She wasn't speeding more than five over the limit, but the minivan didn't handle the turns the way she wanted to take them. She moved quickly into a school's parking lot and stopped in the red zone in front of the office.  
  
He climbed out to follow her, at least to keep an eye on her. She ran into the school and was already hugging the head of a ten year old boy when Harm came in. She tried to calm her son's shock without answering his questions. She shooed him out the front door and back to the minivan without even signing him out.  
  
"Did anyone come looking for you?" She asked him. "Has anyone asked for you at school or tried to pick you up?"  
  
The kid's answer was no on all accounts but this didn't make Jodi feel any better. She ordered him into the back seat of the van and motioned for Harm to get back in the front seat. She was on the road again in a minute, but was still racing through town.  
  
"What's going on, mom?" Gary's voice was truly concerned and his eyes were nervous on Harm. "Who's that guy?"  
  
Jodi's voice was softer, but strait up. "Gary, this a Navy lawyer and his name is 'Sir'. I think we may be in a little bit of trouble but I can't explain it all right now. So, just give me a chance to catch up with this freight train and I'll help you get on later. Okay?"  
  
Gary's brows rippled at the strangeness of all this, but obeyed her lightly. "Yes, ma'am."  
  
"Where are we going now?" Harm asked her, getting impatient with all this action and no answers, but she stopped the car on the side of the road and hopped out again.  
  
"Daycare." Gary told him. "This where Skyler goes to school."  
  
Harm was getting ready to follow her, but she stopped at the curb and held her arms out for a happy, running toddler. She asked the same questions to the woman in charge of the playroom-converted garage and she got more of the same answer. No one else had tried to pick her child up. Nothing seemed suspicious.  
  
Harm turned in the chair to look as she tied the four year old in a five point harness behind him and slammed the sliding door shut. The four year old was smiling and friendly. His innocent, playful voice matched his bright blue happy eyes, "What's your name?"  
  
Gary motioned to his brother with fear filled eyes and whispered. "Shhh. Just call him Sir."  
  
Jodi opened the door and sighed with relief as she climbed back in. "Okay. Now what?" She asked herself, looking around for an idea.  
  
"If you think they're in danger," Harm offered with a casual tug of his earlobe, "the best place for you to be is the police station."  
  
She chewed on her tongue and started to nod at that. "Right." She started the car and moved easier out onto the street again, no longer in a hurry to be anywhere but clearly tense nonetheless.  
  
"Hay!" Gary yelled. Skyler wailed and started yelling incoherently. "He hit me!" Gary insisted.  
  
"Come on, guys!" She whined back at them without turning around. She winced horribly but didn't try to calm their screams or arguments any further that that. Soon, she raised a brow and grinned weakly. "I don't know where the police station is."  
  
"I do," he said motioning. "Take a left."  
  
Her brow rose as she blatted at him. "You're from D.C.! How in the hell do you know where the Sunhill Police Station is?"  
  
He didn't say anything.  
  
The small one wailed out again. Gary yelled, "Stop hitting me!"  
  
She tried to ignore her children and went straight.  
  
Harm pulled out his cell phone again.  
  
Jodi didn't see it, but she waved a hand for him to relax. "Look. All you want to do is ask me questions, right? You can ask all you want at my house. Let me get my dad home to watch the boys and I'll go with you to the police station and stay as long as you like."  
  
"What is the license plate on this car?" He asked without looking at her. He leaned his elbow on the window sill and put the phone to his other ear.  
  
She glanced over nervously, but put her eyes back on the road. "4FRV213"  
  
Harm was actually a little surprised when she told him. "Hi Mac. Sorry. I'm with Jodi Young going west on Wrench Lane. Late nineties dodge gray minivan license 4 Foxtrot Romeo Victor 213.. No, I am not." He sent a half glance back to the children. "But the children are acting like it."  
  
Jodi glanced several times as she listened and started looking nervous about him again. "I'm going home." She told him quietly. "4472 Wild Rose Drive."  
  
Harm glanced over and then told Mac that information too. He shook his head. "I'm not sure. No, don't just yet. Meet me at her house and I'll brief you there. yeah." He hung up and pocketed his phone.  
  
Jodi was starting to look very nervous again. "Are the cops going to meet us there too?"  
  
"Do they have a reason to?" He asked, watching where she was going.  
  
She sighed and thought on that a minute. She pulled the car into a drive way and Harm saw the rental pull to a park, blocking its exit.  
  
Jodi turned off the car with a whispered cuss and climbed out. She smiled weakly at the Colonel and her car in the driveway but didn't say anything. She simply moved to let her children out of the sliding door and gave them quiet orders.  
  
"Gary, please take Skyler into his room and watch a movie. Make sure the door stays closed."  
  
Skyler ripped himself out of her arms to run off towards the front door and Gary paused with a wince at the Colonel and a whine to his mother. "What's happening?"  
  
Jodi's voice was soft and firm as she pulled the car door to close. "It wasn't a request, Gary."  
  
As Gary slumped his worried shoulders and moved off, Jodi sighed at the Colonel and glanced back at the Commander. "Wallis didn't call my father. He called me." She motioned for them to follow. "He said his name was Troy and that he got my number from a mutual friend. I've got several friends trying to hook me up with dates, so I didn't pay any attention to it."  
  
She pulled flipped her keys until she got one for the house and calmed her little one down with a soft hand on his head. "He tried to ask me out and wanted to come over that day, but his voice creeped me out and I turned him down." She pushed the door open.  
  
Harm winced as he took his cover off. "If all he did was ask you out, don't you think you're over reacting a little? You were running like your life was in danger. "  
  
Jodi glanced back at him with almost a grin and motioned her boys to head to the back of the house, but they weren't going to go quietly. "You haven't looked in his service record yet, have you?"  
  
Mac rose her brows as she stepped into the house. Mac had, Harm hadn't.  
  
She shook her head with a weak chuckle and took Skyler by the hand to cart him to the back. "Let me get them squared away and I'll explain everything." She shook her head and shouted over the arguing children. "Make yourselves at home."  
  
Mac took off her cover and Harm closed the front door. Mac muttered to him. "Wallis' online service record doesn't match the hard copy. He had several infractions and reprimands of assault and sexual harassment including one in 1991, he was busted from second to third over an assault case with an ET3 Young."  
  
Harm looked over the décor of the house and clues of personality and nodded as the pieces started falling into place. Mac's eyes grazed over the pictures, mandelas, and hand woven Navajo blankets. "Petty Officer Young had three infractions, one right after the other, around the same time and got out on an RE-3 ten months later."  
  
"Parenthood hardship." He muttered and sighed, looking at the naval plaques of duty stations hanging among the Native American decorations. "Were they married?"  
  
Mac shook her head. "I don't know. I only got an overview from Bud on her. Her record will be here tomorrow." Her eyes grazed over the house and down the hall. She pointed her cover to an open door in the hall. "Hey, look."  
  
Harm stepped to look and saw enough of a WWI propaganda poster to recognize it. 'Gee I wish I were a man, I'd join the Navy.' On the ceiling of the same room was tacked a large US flag. He listened to Jodi talk to her children in a room in the back and stepped toward the open bedroom.  
  
Mac stepped with him. He leaned and pushed the door to open the rest of the way to find an unmade single bed, cheap cherry wood furniture, and yesterday's jeans and Harley tank top on the floor in front of a rocking chair and worn out lap top.  
  
He grinned and pointed at the replica of the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration on the wall. "I guess your uncle hasn't been here."  
  
Mac scoffed a grin and elbowed him.  
  
"Go ahead." Jodi said as if she should have expected them snooping and came down the hall at them. She offered them into her bedroom. "You don't need a warrant if you have permission, right?" She was indignant about it and passed them both to the living room again.  
  
Harm stood on his feet and glanced at Mac with a pause.  
  
Jodi stepped into the kitchen, yanking up the cordless telephone. "You are going to ask to have a look around sooner or later anyway." She shrugged at them. "Might as well do it while you're waiting." She lifted the phone to her mouth and turned away from them. "Hi Dad? I need you to come home.."  
  
Mac looked at Harm and motioned him to go ahead. She stepped down the hall to the next room. Harm stepped through the door.  
  
Mac found what must have been Gary's bedroom. There was a US Navy flag on his ceiling, a periodic table on the wall, a computer on the desk and hordes of NASA models, airplane toys, and junk computer boards. A Steven Hawking's book lay in the clutter on the desk right in front of a giant model of the U.S.S. Saratoga.  
  
Harm found stacks of books on English literature, dictionaries, and grammar reference books. A file cabinet matched the rooms furniture and he flipped through the neatly labeled files: various bills, medical records, and old homework. In the next drawer he found old taxes, mortgage papers, and a thick chuck labeled, 'child support'. In the third drawer he found a thick chunk labeled Divorce and a thin chunk labeled Navy. He squatted and angled his head to flip and take a closer look.  
  
Mac listened through the door to the boys and the video they were watching and decided to leave that room alone. Another step brought her to what was probably the master bedroom, but it was locked. She found the bathroom, it was somewhat clean but with signs that children definitely lived there, and stepped back to the bedroom that was supposed to be an office.  
  
Harm stood and closed the drawer, shaking his head. "Old fit reps and LES's. Divorce papers and child support but nothing on Wallis."  
  
Mac pointed to a picture on the hall wall. It was a pictured memorial to the brother next to a pictured memorial to the mother. Harm read the dates and nodded silently, stepping back to the living room when Jodi hung up the phone.  
  
Jodi waved a hand at the couch to them. "You want some coffee?" She moved back to the kitchen like she was going to make some anyway.  
  
"No thank you." Mac said, stepping through the side door of the kitchen and looking around more.  
  
"My dad is leaving work now. He'll be home in a couple of hours."  
  
"Is that his bedroom that's locked?" Mac motioned and leaned against a counter to stay out of the way.  
  
"Yeah." Jodi said, filling the pot with water. "He keeps it locked so the boys won't get in and mess it up. He'll let you in when he gets home."  
  
Harm stepped to the kitchen table and sat down. "Do you have a key?"  
  
"No, I do not." She sighed, sounding almost like Sturgis with her careful patience.  
  
Mac crossed her arms. "Do you know where Chief Wallis is?"  
  
Jodi shook her head as an answer and then let out a disbelieving chuckle. "I still can't believe you fuckin people let him make Chief."  
  
"If you hate the military this much," Mac asked her, "why do you still have a poster on your wall?"  
  
Jodi started the pot and turned around. "Gee I wish I were a man, I'd join the Navy." She crossed her arms with thick attitude and leaned back against the opposite counter. "If I were a man, I'd still be in the Navy."  
  
Mac was firm. "Discharges on parenthood hardship are practically elective."  
  
"Oh. So, you've seen my service record but you haven't seen his?" She looked at the both of them in their audacity. "I got out through a loophole, Colonel. Surely lawyers of all people can understand that."  
  
Harm leaned his elbows onto his knees. "Tell us about Wallis."  
  
Jodi sighed and looked at the air. "PN2 Roy Wallis, aye sir. We were stationed together at SIMA San Francisco. My boyfriend was an ET2 on the Gompers. They left just before Christmas. Wallis was in Admin and I was in R4 division, but we got to know each other in the smoking area since there was only one of them. And then the war broke out."  
  
She pressed her mouth as the story got harder, but her voice was clear and strong. "My boyfreind and I had an apartment out in town, and Wallis started showing up to help me get through the protesters. We started commuting to work together. In a week, he thought that gave him rights to stay the night."  
  
She sighed heavily at them, and paused there, hoping they got enough of the picture so she didn't have to expand.  
  
Mac's voice was gentler, but not soft. "What did you do?"  
  
"I reported it," she scoffed, "all three times."  
  
"Three different times?" Harm winced. "You let him back in?"  
  
"No. Not exactly." Jodi huffed. "I was twenty years old, all right? My brother had just committed suicide, my parents were splitting up, and my boyfriend was getting hazardous duty pay. I had less confidence than a piece of lint. I let him the first time to keep from getting hurt. On duty the next day, my Division Officer was too busy. I never got the chance to tell him the first time. So I went to Wallis and tried to talk him out of returning for more. He agreed. So I let it go.  
  
"But within days he started calling again and dropping by unannounced and following me to the grocery store. He cornered me in a parking lot and I tried to get away and talk him down and." she pulled in a deep breath and pulled out a cigarette. "He didn't beat me." She lit the cigarette and pulled open the sliding glass door to stand next to it and hold her cigarette outside. "So, when I actually talked to my DO, the DO thought that I was just making noise. He never even wrote any of it down. So, when Roy started calling again, gearing up for a third round, I told him I'd meet him at a bar so we could talk it out."  
  
She pulled a stiff drag on her cigarette and blew it out to the air. "I finally found my balls. I yelled at him, screamed at him, and he wasn't going to leave it alone, so I cracked him over the back of the head with a pool stick, and he dragged me kicking and screaming out of the bar before the cops came." Her words sounded like they were going to continue, but they didn't for a long time.  
  
She was looking out to the back yard at the memories. "Nobody wanted to hear about it. My DO didn't believe me. My Chief didn't care. Women should be in the kitchen, not the Navy. Everybody was scrambling to get orders to the action or fighting protestors or," she shrugged, "passing gossip with the worry of who was over there. Wallis was a stand-up single white male. They thought I was just trying to get attention." She rolled her head back to them.  
  
Harm fiddled gently with the piss cutter in his hand. "What happened the third time?"  
  
Jodi stood on her feet and moved to the coffee pot with a casual tone. "Well, he didn't take too kindly to the pool stick across his head. I can tell you that much."  
  
"I meant afterwards."  
  
"Afterwards, I had plenty of evidence," she smiled as she turned around again with a mug. "but it was only for assault." she shook her head and grinned. "And I hit first. So they just wrote it off as one sailor beating the fuck out of another one and told us to go back to work."  
  
Mac crossed her arms again. "What happened then?"  
  
Jodi grinned behind her mug. "I bought a gun."  
  
Harm glanced up, "Do you still have a gun?"  
  
Jodi shook her head and put her mug down. "I sold it shortly after I got out." She folded her arms at her chest, having an easier time with this part, and finished her story. "Roy had most of SIMA convinced that I was just cheating on John and made sure that rumor spread all the way to the Gulf. His plan worked. John broke it off before he even got home to tell me himself.  
  
"But I used the gun with the same tactic. I showed it to a few friends and had my shop sup take me out to practice at his range once or twice. Those rumors spread to Roy and soon enough, he stopped calling me at my house." She shrugged her shoulders. "The problem was that we still worked in the same building and since I had to pass Admin to get to the smoking area, he knew exactly when to come out for his own cigarette. He would just stand there and stare at me like it wasn't over. I'd find him at my grocery store, casually shopping, or his car on my street, or what have you.. I got to the point where it didn't matter how much I wanted to be in the Navy. I couldn't live like that."  
  
Harm's voice was careful. "Is Roy Wallis Gary's father?"  
  
Jodi lifted her chin at that one. "I will not now or ever release the name of Gary's father, and you can take that anyway you like as long as you don't ever repeat your assumption."  
  
Unfortunately, Harm couldn't promise that.  
  
"Does Wallis know about him?" Mac asked.  
  
Jodi sucked in a breath like it was obvious, "I wasn't discharged until after he was born. When Roy threatened a custody battle, I took that loop hole and took off."  
  
Harm sighed through his nose and looked up at Mac. Mac exchanged the glance before asking. "When was the last time you saw him?"  
  
Jodi pressed her lips. "March 22, 1992. PN2 Wallis was standing outside the building when I was escorted off base. I drove away to hunt down a joint and a barbeque in which to burn my uniform."  
  
"Why do you think he called you Sunday?"  
  
She angled her head. "Well, I managed to hide myself pretty good, or so I thought. He was kind of a computer geek and knew a few tricks, but didn't have any real clearances outside the Navy. I dumped all my friends and moved away. Didn't list my number anymore, that sort of thing. I figured I'd lost him or at least lost his interest after a few years, so I relaxed, y'know? I haven't been 'hiding' the whole time. So, I guess he's just now catching up."  
  
"What did he say on the phone?"  
  
"He was trying to ask me out. I had no idea it was him. He was on a cell phone. He said his name was Troy and he worked for the government. The rest of the conversation was him charmingly trying to talk me into letting him come over for dinner that night. I kept saying no and was politely trying to end the conversation. Eventually, I had to hang up on him because the boys were in a fight."  
  
Harm shook his head at her, trying to confirm. "And you didn't see him."  
  
"No," she winced with her arms, "I heard about Chief Wallis when I got to school the next day but didn't put the two together until you came to the lab today. Wallis is not an uncommon name."  
  
Harm sighed and stood up, rubbing his lips at Mac and she nodded just enough for him to see it but enough for Jodi to recognize it.  
  
"You mind if we step out front for a moment?" Mac asked as she motioned to the front door.  
  
Jodi waved her off with a nod, knowing the two were going to do it anyway.  
  
Mac didn't say anything until she stepped out onto the front porch and Harm closed the door behind him. "Her story matches what Bud found in her service record so far, but there are discrepancies in Wallis' record. His online record is clean as a whistle, but his hard copy has the infraction she mentioned plus two more of similar nature shortly afterward."  
  
He set his hands on his hips and sighed out to the front yard. "When are we getting the records?"  
  
"Tomorrow morning. Bud's fed-exing everything to the hotel."  
  
Harm looked at Mac. "D'you believe her?"  
  
She glanced up, "About not seeing him last week?" She shook her head. "I don't know. I want to, but if she did, she'd fight him to the ground."  
  
Harm nodded and grazes his eyes over the street and front yard. He straightened, slowly dropping his arms. "What kind of car does he drive?"  
  
"White '95 Ford Ranger." Mac was already answering when she looked down the street and found a White '95 Ford Ranger parked quietly in front of the next house.  
  
Harm slipped his hat back on and stepped out. "You got the plates?"  
  
Mac slipped her hat on and stepped it out to the rental. "In the car."  
  
Harm glanced back through the front window to find Jodi flopping onto the couch and sighing her eyes closed at the ceiling and moved away before she saw him peaking. He looked up and down the street as he strolled to the side walk and Mac met him with the file so they could casually stroll to the Ford. She read off the same letters and numbers on the vehicle and Harm peaked in the windows without touching it.  
  
The insides were clean and void of personal effects and the outside was covered in a month's worth of normal use dirt. There were leaves gathered at the tires, signifying that it had been there for several days. Mac called the police and Harm used his hat to keep from messing up the prints as he checked the door. It was locked.  
  
Harm stepped back toward the house before Mac got off the phone. He found Jodi strolling out to light another cigarette and watching them with confusion.  
  
Harm pointed back as he moved up the walk. "Do you know whose car that is?"  
  
Jodi looked at it, shrugged and shook her head. "Never seen it before," she said easily. Then she noticed the Colonel standing next to it and talking on the phone, and her eyes flicked to the Commander as he stepped carefully up with that look in his eye.  
  
Jodi's mouth opened. Her eyes flicked to the car, back to Harm, and then winced so hard she turned away to cover her face with a whisper. "Oh no no no no no."  
  
Harm opened the front door and gently touched her shoulder. "Let's go back inside."  
  
The woman hugged herself with one arm and winced hard into her palm with the other. She was as stiff as stone with her back to him and starting to shake with tension.  
  
"Come on." He pushed her just a tad to get her moving, and she finally did, dropping her arms and quivering sighs as she stepped back into the house. She threw her lit cigarette violently at the wall with a shout, "That son of a bitch!"  
  
Harm stepped to pick up the cigarette before it caught the couch on fire and threw it out the front door passed Mac. Mac closed the door behind her and let her phone hang quietly in her hand.  
  
Jodi paced the floor. "Is his body in it?"  
  
Mac raised her chin at her. "It's locked."  
  
Jodi rubbed her forehead and took another lap of the living room. "The cops are coming?"  
  
Harm crossed his arms and watched her, "Yes, they are."  
  
She took another lap of thinking hard and swearing under her breath before she stopped and faced them, "Okay, do me a favor. Give me enough time for my dad to get home and take the boys-" she paused and fretted a moment, then put her hands out to them with pained eyes, "I know you don't have to, but.." She rose her hand to breathe fearfully into the back of it.  
  
Mac had to ask it, "Did you kill Roy Wallis?"  
  
Jodi winced so hard that tears squeezed out of her eyes, "No!" She moved back into her pace and flapped an arm, "But now I'm thinking I should've when I had the chance." Her own brows rose the same time theirs did.  
  
She rolled around, saw their eyes, and paced back the other direction with disappointment in her voice. "Okay! I think it's time to shut up now."  
  
Harm leaned his shoulder against the entry wall and pointed out too casually. "If you didn't kill him, you should have nothing to worry about."  
  
She actually snickered at that. "Yeah, right. I'm suddenly your number one suspect, I have a motive and I don't have an alibi. My only saving grace right now is that you don't have a body." She did another lap on the floor. "And I'm so scared of him that I wish that you did."  
  
Mac pressed her mouth uncomfortably and Harm looked at his watch. "When do you think you're father is going to get here?"  
  
"I don't know." She shook her head and moved back to the kitchen to fetch the phone. She came back to the living room again before they decided to follow her. They waited patiently and listened to her end of the conversation.  
  
"Hi dad it's me again. No, it's worse. His car's outside our house. Yeah I think they are. Listen, I'm not going to be able to talk long when you get here. can you maybe, ah, take the boys to Uncle Joe's for a couple of days?. Well, I'll be safe but I don't know if they will. I know I know," she rubbed her forehead. "No, Reed is a family court lawyer, she can't help me. Well, hey, you shouldn't be talking and driving. How far out are you?"  
  
She turned back to Harm and Mac. "Really? How the hell did you manage that?" she grinned, "Oh." She tucked the phone down. "He's about thirty minutes out," and brought it back to her mouth. "Well, I asked them but they didn't answer me and they're looking none too pleased."  
  
Harm nodded at her. "We'll stay."  
  
Jodi lit up a little. "They'll stay, but hurry anyway. yeah, sure. all right. Thanks, Senior." She hung up and gave them a sincere. "Thank you." She tossed the phone into the easy chair.  
  
"It's not your toy!" Gary screamed from inside the room.  
  
Jodi sighed and held her hands up to them. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm just gonna. shit." She moved to the back of the house and was already calming them down when she shut herself in the room with them.  
  
Harm glanced at Mac and Mac turned to the door again, "I'll wait by the car." Harm strolled down the hall and relaxed next to the boy's door, listening to the mother settle the fight and calm them both down.  
  
She told them that someone at school got hurt and she was going to have to help the police figure out who did it, so she was going to be gone for a little while. But everything was okay because grampa was on his way home. Gary had more questions but Jodi told him nothing more, she simply gave them her best love and tenderness to ease their tension and settle them back down. Eventually, it quieted completely as she was probably sitting with them in front of the Disney movie, but Skyler occasionally peeped up a curious question or giggle about the cartoon to keep Harm from thinking they'd snuck out the window.  
  
The body wasn't in the Ford. It actually looked like it had been cleaned and abandoned the same way the apartment did. The presence of police drew out a number of neighbors to watch and wonder. A black man with a smile and an easy gate strolled across the street to Mac, greeted her by her rank, and held a hand out to shake and introduce himself. He asked what was going on, expressing concern for his neighbors, but Mac asked her own instead of answering his.  
  
Tony knew the Youngs well enough to keep an eye out for each other but not enough do be over for dinner all the time. He claimed to have seen the SUV on the street for several days, maybe a week, but didn't know who it belonged to and never saw anybody with it or looking curious around the house.  
  
Before long, a white Saturn drove up with the intent to park in the driveway, but the rental blocked his spot. He parked on the street, blocking the exit of the car that was blocking Jodi's.  
  
The man climbed out of his car with a hard look at the police, and pulled out his overstuffed laptop case before closing the door and meeting eyes with Mac and Tony. The man looked kind of like Bud's dad, only taller, fatter and older. The sun shined off his bald spot and thick tufts of curly white hair trimmed his head from ear to ear. He stepped up the sidewalk, nodded hello to Tony, and shook Mac's outstretched hand.  
  
"I'm Colonel Mackenzie of the Judge Advocate General's office."  
  
"Steve Young, Senior Chief, Retired," he said with no humor.  
  
Tony was already walking away again.  
  
Steve stepped up the walk to his house and watched the police at the SUV as Mac talked to him. She briefed him only enough to start asking questions. She asked him how often and when he had been home this last week. He told her. She asked if he'd seen Wallis. He shook his head and stepped into his house.  
  
Harm knocked lightly on the bedroom door and came out of the back with Jodi.  
  
Jodi stopped opposite the room from her father and said it with a sigh, "I'm in big fuckin trouble, Senior Chief."  
  
Steve looked at his daughter and looked at Harm. He put his laptop case down and took off his jacket. His slacks were belted under his pot belly and his t-shirt was labeled with some computer company. He sighed through his nose and turned back to them. "Where are the boys?"  
  
"In Skyler's room," she thumbed behind her. "Did you get a hold of Joe?"  
  
"He's catching the next flight." He told her and stepped deeper into the room. He crossed his arms at his chest and stood on both feet like a chief would. "What's JAG got to do with this?"  
  
Harm motioned to himself and Mac. "We're here to aid the police in the investigation."  
  
He looked at Harm and snarled a little, "What's a pilot doing in JAG?"  
  
Harm inhaled a little and angled his head to avoid an answer.  
  
The man flattened his mouth to disregard it anyway. He looked at Mac. "Are you going to arrest her?"  
  
Mac rose her brows to Harm to put in her vote and Harm had to agree. "We just need to take you in to get some information from you."  
  
Jodi sighed up at the ceiling and her father landed a palm on her shoulder with his own moment of silent curses. He leaned in and whispered quiet a bit into her ear and she was already nodding when he was done. "Yep."  
  
The Senior Chief pulled a business card out of his wallet and a pen out of his breast pocket. "I'm gonna take leave from work for a couple of days, but let me stay here with the boys. If you got any questions, just come over." He handed to card to Mac.  
  
"Thank you, Chief."  
  
Jodi stepped over to Mac and put her wrists up in the air at her so she could be suitably cuffed. Mac pressed her mouth at it, glanced at Harm, and escorted the woman out the door.  
  
Harm hung back to ask the Senior Chief the usual questions, but the man hadn't been home enough to have any news of value. If he wasn't working, he was playing his viola. He did a concert on Sunday night was gone for most of the day. At work, he had been doing a lot of overtime.  
  
The boys ran out of the room with squeals of delight to see grampa and the Senior Chief's face lit up like a flood lamp. Skyler ran into his arms and Gary was jumping at his side, both shouting excited to see him, eager for attention, and asking where mom was.  
  
Harm took a step back to the door with a melancholy grin and waved the man off. "I'll come back for the rest of it."  
  
As soon as he was released, the grandpa became a true grandpa and took the boys into the kitchen for chocolate milk over their latest tales.  
  
After the police were done with the vehicle, Jodi was in the back of a car, and Harm retrieved the Senior Chief for a moment so he could move his own out of the way, the caravan of officials moved out of the neighborhood again.  
  
Harm pulled files off the floor of the Taurus and put them in the back seat with a complaint on his brow. Mac sighed as she drove. "I don't think she did it. She answered all our questions, even the incriminating ones, walked right into custody.. it doesn't make sense."  
  
"We can't do anything until we have a body anyway." He said, gathering more stuff from the seat between them and moving to the back seat. "Did you get anything from the Sacramento JAG?"  
  
"No. He's a complete wuss. Gave me all his files and was ready to let us do it all."  
  
Harm giggled, "Wuss? That's a new word for you isn't it?" He tried to settle the stuff in the back seat so it wouldn't fall over on a turn and get all tangled up, and then he paused.  
  
She grinned and shrugged. "I did get more stuff from the civilian records though. Wallis has a criminal record in his home state of Missouri, sexual assault."  
  
Harm pulled up a small pink Victoria Secret shopping bag from behind the seat, and looked at her.  
  
She saw it and her mouth opened to inhale a defense but it only came out in a smile that she turned away so she could drive. Harm sat down forward again with the small paper bag and opened it up to look inside. Mac tried to grab it from him, but he grinned and giggled and moved it out of reach, "No, no, no. You're shopping on duty, I get to see."  
  
Mac set her elbow on the window sill and rubbed her forehead. She tried not to blush, but fighting her grin of embarrassment was soaking up all her concentration.  
  
Harm rummaged through the tissue paper and pulled out. a blindfold.  
  
His brows lowered and his eyes widened. He looked over at her with one of his classic expression that he thought she had lost her mind.  
  
She snatched it from his hand. "The freeway lights shine into my window." She shoved it back into the bag and threw it on the floor. "It was keeping me awake last night."  
  
He winced harder, shaking with a chuckle, "Well, why didn't you just say so?" He let the bag fall to his feet and kicked it out of the way.  
  
"Because I know what you were thinking." She wagged a finger at him.  
  
He put his elbow on the windowsill and a finger on his chin. He shook his head with a small frown of innocence, "No, you don't."  
  
"Yes, I do." She wagged her finger at him again. "If I was wrong, you wouldn't have fought to see what it was."  
  
He shook his head again, shifting in his seat and trying to look casually out the window.  
  
She glanced over to see his reaction and started snickering. She tightened her grip on the steering wheel with one hand and hid her mouth with the other when the snickering turned into a giggling.  
  
Harm dropped his face into his hand and snickered into a giggle as well. He snuck a shy glance over at her and she snuck a shy glance back at him. They both yanked their eyes away and rolled into a full, blushing laughter.  
  
The zoo of paperwork and long waits were expected for Harm and Mac, but Jodi moved through it with tense sighs and dashing eyes, nervous as a squirrel, until they set her down in an interrogation room. While the civilian police questioned her, Harm and Mac buddied up with another one to look into her history. She had no criminal record, they discovered, here or anywhere. Other than a fender bender, a couple of bounced checks and the mess in her service record, she was clean. The non-criminal side of things had more to say. She'd been married and divorced in the same year that Skyler was born. She was fighting to get child support from the husband, but he had yet to be found.  
  
Mac went to the office to get the paper search going on Jodi's residential and employment history since she left the Navy, wondering if it matched with anything in Wallis' history. Harm moved to another office to look deeper into the forensic evidence of the uniform and the car. Since they had none of Wallis' DNA, they couldn't match it up with the blood on the uniform. Harm asked to see the uniform itself and they brought it to him folded in a plastic bag. There was enough blood in the right spot to support a stab or bullet wound, but there were no tears in the shirt. Then they brought him the file on the car. Wallis' prints were all over it, naturally, but Jodi's prints weren't found.  
  
Harm gave them back all the stuff and rubbed his forehead on the way back to the hall. He stopped when he saw Mac approaching with a glance of warning and march by him, and realized that the teacher, Catharine Kohlby, was storming unhappily behind her talking to another cop third in the parade.  
  
Harm fell in behind and moved to the interrogation room. Catharine moved took one look through the one way mirror and sprang through the door. Harm and Mac stayed behind to watch.  
  
Jodi looked up and inhaled a sigh of giant relief when she saw her friend. Catharine didn't bark at the investigator like they'd expected. She just slid her fingers into her pockets and smiled at the man with pride. "Heya, Jack."  
  
The balding, middle aged man rolled his head with a sigh and pushed himself out of the chair, clearly exasperated just by her presence. "May I speak with you a minute?" He told her firmly and moved out of the room.  
  
Catharine angled her shoulder to the door with an icy smile and matching invitation. "Sure. Let's go have a round."  
  
He ignored the sailor, the marine, and the officer in the room and went straight to chewing Catharine out. "Kohlby, you are not a lawyer and you are not carrying a badge anymore. What are you doing here?"  
  
Catharine smiled at him. "It's nice to see you too, Jack." She pointed to the window. "Has she been arrested?"  
  
Jack blew a sigh out of his nose. "No."  
  
"Then she's done." She moved to open the door again, but Jack stopped her by slamming it shut again. "She came in willingly, Kohlby."  
  
"What have you got, Jack?"  
  
"We've got motive, no alibi, and the car in front of her house."  
  
"But you don't have a body." Catharine insisted. "That woman isn't saying anything until you have something to pin on her."  
  
"She's been talking all day-"  
  
From behind Mac's shoulder, Harm crossed his arms. "She knew Wallis from when she was in the Navy and was telling us all about it when we found the car."  
  
Catharine's eyes started to look worried for the first time, "All about what?"  
  
Harm started shaking his head but Jack said it for him. "Kohlby, you have no right to be here."  
  
"Fine." Catharine flapped her hand at the door. "Let me just talk to her for a minute."  
  
Jack was already shaking his head. Catharine ignored him and moved through the door anyway. "Arrest me." She slammed the door in his face and huffed at the other side, knowing damned well they had the speakers on.  
  
Jodi was relieved at first, but looked at Catharine's short pace of the floor and turned to her from the other side of the room. Jodi didn't like the look on her face. "Whazzup?"  
  
"You've been talking all day to these people?" She asked like she was disappointed in her.  
  
Jodi shrugged. "I didn't know the car was in front of my house until I was already in deep enough shit. I stopped talking as soon as I realized they were looking at me."  
  
Catharine rubbed her face and looked across the room at her with a sigh. "You know anybody who can lend you the money for a lawyer?"  
  
Jodi looked at the table and shook her head.  
  
Catharine sighed, "Where's your boys?"  
  
"Dad's got 'em, but my uncle's coming into town take over and hide them until this blows over."  
  
"Hide them?"  
  
"Yeah, hide them. You remember when I told you about that shit that went down just before I got out of the Navy?" She dropped her chin and looked at the table. "It's the same guy apparently."  
  
Catharine's back straitened with enlightenment. She looked at the mirror and nodded that this was all starting to make sense and looked back at Jodi before the woman lifted her head again.  
  
"You want to try to get protection for them? Or for you?" Catharine shrugged. "You know I talk shit about cops all day long but--"  
  
"You've got a right."  
  
Catharine glanced casually over to the mirror again and looked directly at Jack, even if she couldn't see him. "Yeah, I know."  
  
Jodi winced and combed her fingers hard into her bangs. "I don't want their help. If they were going to help me, they would have done it ten years ago."  
  
"Who? The police or the navy?"  
  
Jodi looked at her. "Yes. I went to both, but I had no evidence. It was his word against mine. The dickhead was never even arrested! And I had to work in the same damn building with him for months afterward while I tried to figure how I was going to manage being an active duty single mother."  
  
Catharine tucked her chin with surprise. "Wallis is Gary's dad?!"  
  
Jodi sighed and put her fingertips on her forehead.  
  
Catharine leaned her palms on the table and lowered her voice, but still knew that they could hear her next door. "Jodi, listen to me. Did you kill this guy?"  
  
Jodi winced with insult that she had to ask. "No."  
  
Catharine lifted her brows at her.  
  
Jodi sat up more and winced more, her voice climbing octaves as she spoke. "Jesus, Catharine, if I had a run in with Wallis, murdered or not, I'd be coolin' my heals in Mexico by now and you know it."  
  
Catharine stood again and stepped around the table. "All right," she sighed. "I gotta go. I'm not supposed to be here but I'm gonna see what I can do from the outside, all right?"  
  
Jodi straitened her back like a soldier and sighed out her nod. "Thanks for coming."  
  
Catharine gave her a firm order as she opened the door again. "You have the right to remain silent. Use it."  
  
Catharine was already waving her hands at Jack and heading for the other door. "I'm gone. I'm gone. But you will see my ugly face often until this thing is over."  
  
Jack showed her out the door. "Fine, just stay out of the way."  
  
Jack decided to let Jodi go for the night so they could keep digging and Harm and Mac left the station to do their own digging, but offered to give Jodi a ride back home.  
  
She accepted with a forlorn sigh and thanked them quietly as she stepped to the car. "What's going to happen now?"  
  
"We keep looking," Harm said as he opened the back door and collected the paperwork so he could move it to the trunk.  
  
"There's not enough to hold you on." Mac told her. "That's a good thing. If you didn't kill him, the winds will change when we find the body anyway. So, don't worry."  
  
"What about my kids? What happens to my kids if I do get arrested?"  
  
"You're father will probably get them unless the father's show up to claim custody." Mac quickly tossed the Victoria Secret bag in the back and ushered Jodi into the front passenger's seat. "With one father missing and the other not even on the birth certificate, there shouldn't be a problem."  
  
Jodi nodded at that sat down in the seat.  
  
Mac closed the door moved around the car to drive. Harm closed the trunk and moved around to slide into the seat behind Jodi. He saw Mac's sly move to shift the pink paper bag into the back and gave her a sparkling grin over the roof of the car to tease her about it before he climbed in.  
  
Mac licked the smile from her lips and climbed in as well.  
  
Jodi stared out the window and chewed on her thumbnail the entire way home. Her chin shook with stress on occasion and her eyes were wide with fear and figuring on nothing outside. Harm watched her casually just to make sure the woman wasn't going to attack Mac and make her drive somewhere and Mac glanced over from time to time at the woman's stiff worry, but drove silently back to the house.  
  
She climbed out to the curb and thanked them again for the ride, but leaned on the window to wince at them. "Are you allowed to tell me when you find him or his body? Even if I'm no longer a suspect?"  
  
Harm climbed out of the back seat to move to the front.  
  
Mac nodded at Jodi. "We'll let you know as soon as we know where he is."  
  
"Thank you, ma'am." she stepped back, moving around Harm with an uncomfortable, "Excuse me," and marched tiredly to the house.  
  
Harm climbed in and shut the door. Mac dropped her head against the headrest. They were silent for a long moment. Then Mac pulled her head up and shifted into drive. "I'm starving."  
  
Harm sat up and pulled on his seatbelt. "Me too."  
  
Harm pushed away his spaghetti plate and leaned back in his chair to demonstrate. He used the pocket of his jeans instead. "So he said, no, I keep it in my pocket. And pulls out this wad of saran wrap for a quick second and puts it back in."  
  
Mac's brows rose, and her jaw dropped, already starting to chuckle.  
  
Harm giggled through his story. "She confiscated it from him, but it was the wrap to his sandwich."  
  
Mac ducked her forehead into her fingers.  
  
He calmed with a smile, "And she went on, trying to verbally muscle him into emptying the rest of his pockets, turning it into a lesson about probable cause." He rose his brows. "It was impressive how they responded to her."  
  
Mac folded her arms on the table and shook the stars from her head, "I still can not imagine her as a professor. I can't imagine her with a Masters or a badge."  
  
Harm kept his back against the chair and studied the table with his humored thoughts. "Most of the people I've met around here seem to be the opposite of the first impression I get." He waved a hand. "Case in point, Jodi Young's house. There's a Native thread and a Navy thread, yet the woman dresses like a rebel in high school. With that, guess what kind of music she listens to?"  
  
Mac shrugged, "Rock, contemporary, maybe country. "  
  
"Classical." Harm told her. "She had it on in her car and her father plays in an orchestra."  
  
Mac's brows rose for a silent, 'wow'.  
  
"It's almost like." he squinted at the air and sat up a little, "Like their trying to break the stereotypes." He was quiet a long moment.  
  
Mac sighed and looked at her hands on the table. She could feel it coming and grinned.  
  
Harm shook his head quietly. "She didn't do it, Mac." He sat up and put his elbows on the table. He shook his head again as he sipped his water. "She didn't kill Wallis."  
  
"Harm." Mac said in warning.  
  
"You should have seen the look on her face when she realized it was his truck," he defended. "Or the look on her face when she realized that our Wallis was her Wallis." He thumbed out, "That woman was so worried over saving her kids from him that she almost tried to punch me in the face so she could go get them out of school. She didn't even care if I followed her as long as I didn't stop her."  
  
Mac leaned her elbow deep onto the table and her temple in her fist. "Harm. She's not in the Navy anymore."  
  
Harm angled his head and dashed his eyes away.  
  
Mac fought her grin. "We have no jurisdiction and we will get no support."  
  
Harm softly flung a hand in the air. "They haven't arrested her yet. When we find Wallis--"  
  
"The Admiral will say 'no'."  
  
His eyes finally flicked to her and found her leaning into her fist and glittering across the table at him like a teenager in love. He was about to defend that it hadn't even been asked, but the look in her eyes made Harm's brow raise a smidgen about something else.  
  
"And you don't have a lot of leave on the books." She pointed out with a scolding like she loved it anyway. "Stop trying to save all these hopeless defendants."  
  
She didn't even seem to realize how she was looking at him. He adjusted himself to face the table squarely and folded both elbows to lean on them. He spoke carefully and kept his eyes on her from under his guarded brows. "What's wrong with a little charity case every once in a while?"  
  
She smiled from ear to ear but closed her eyes and let out a tested sigh.  
  
He angled his head a different direction. "What's on your mind, Mac?"  
  
Her brow lifted her eyes open again. She shook her head and shrugged matter of factly. "Nothing." She pulled up her water and took a sip, but didn't remove her temple from her fist.  
  
Harm studied her, fighting a half grin, and tried to find other explanations for what he detected.  
  
She caught his expression and paused. With another deep, tested sigh, she sat up, grabbed the receipt off the table, and gave him a funny face as she stood.  
  
"Mac." Harm's eyes stayed on the table but the grin in them glowed in all directions.  
  
She grabbed her purse.  
  
"Mac," he said a little louder, with a warning in his tone, but she didn't stop.  
  
She put her purse on her shoulder, checked the change in the tray and stepped away with almost a wag of attitude in her tail.  
  
Harm exhaled through his teeth before climbing slowly out of the chair and strolled easily out of the Spaghetti Factory. She was already strutting around the building to walk back to the hotel and he watched her back from under his brows as he strolled to follow, but didn't try to catch up. She was thirty feet ahead of him across the parking lot, down the street and into the hotel, but was forced to let him catch up when she waited for the elevator.  
  
She pushed the button several more times as his footsteps approached, then hugged herself softly as she watched and waited for the globe above it to light up.  
  
Harm strolled up with his hands in his pockets and settled his feet behind her as if her were a simply a stranger waiting for the same elevator.  
  
Awkward moment number 482.  
  
When the doors opened, she finally glanced at him when she turned to push the floor button and his, apparently, had never left her. He crossed his arms and angled his head at the sky in thought. "Y'know that old tactic that, if you ignore something, it will go away?" He said as if he'd had a simple revelation about life in general. "I'm beginning to think it only works for teeth."  
  
Mac turned her chin and blinked hard at that, then snickered into laughter.  
  
Harm smiled over at his success and looked back up to the numbers to casually watch them move.  
  
The mood had lightened by the time they got to their rooms and the joining doors were still open from that morning. It was still too early to go to bed, so after the first roam through the rooms to drop a purse or wallet, visit the bathroom, and sigh at the case work on the table, Mac pulled out her paperback in her room and Harm tried to figure out the radio option on the TV in his room.  
  
The stations that weren't full of static were rap or salsa. He settled for a station that was playing a Fleetwood Mac song and hoped that it wasn't going to do a U turn on him and play heavy metal next. Instead of closing the doors to keep from interrupting her book, he just turned the volume fairly low and sat down at his table.  
  
He opened the laptop with the intent to work but not really in the mood for it. He leaned back in the chair with one arm on the table, and clicked open a game of solitaire.  
  
He watched her from the corner of his eye. In the other room, at the other table, Mac had snuggled up in the chair with her bare feet tucked under her. She looked engrossed in her book.  
  
But she wasn't. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the dots of pool-table green reflect in his blue eyes and a single finger and thumb move the cursor to click here and there. He looked passively interested in his game.  
  
His eyes flicked slyly to look at her. Her eyes flicked shyly up, saw his, and they both moved their eyes back to what they were doing.  
  
Awkward moment number 483.  
  
Mac went stiff for a moment and had it up her neck with these awkward moments. She wanted to slink over and flirt with him the same time she wanted to strangle his neck. She raised the book in the air and threw it against the wall. "I hate it when you do that!"  
  
Harm sputtered into a tight giggle as if he knew what she was talking about, but was laughing because he could have predicted it. He was just innocently sitting there, and she exploded.  
  
She climbed out of her chair with a sparkle behind her angry eyes and leaned into his room from the joining doors. "Stop that."  
  
He shrugged, unable to stop laughing, "I'm just playing cards, Mac?"  
  
"That's not what I'm talking about."  
  
He rose a brow expectantly. "Then what are you talking about?"  
  
He bounced right back to where they were at dinner. She caught her breath and gritted her teeth.  
  
Awkward moment number 484.  
  
She huffed, turning away to cross her arms and drop her back against the door jams.  
  
Harm climbed out of his chair and stepped over, calming the laughter out of his voice so he could talk with careful sincerity. "Talk to me." He hadn't thought something was bugging her, but it was beginning to feel like it. He moved in front of her and hung his hands off the top frame of the doors to look at her with a soft, sympathetic sigh.  
  
She kept her eyes elsewhere and tightened her arms at her chest.  
  
"Look, I'm sorry for looking in the bag," he said honestly. "You were right. And it wasn't my business. And I tried not to tell you about the dreams. I don't want you to feel like I'm. " he winced and sighed, looking for the right words.  
  
"I don't." She answered so he wouldn't have to say it out loud, but stopped herself and shrugged a little. "Well, I do. but not like that." She squinted up at him to see if he understood what she was saying.  
  
His eyes moved back to her with confused caution in his wince. "It doesn't bother you?"  
  
She dropped her head back to the jam and looked up at the ceiling. "In a way it does. but not like you'd expect."  
  
He angled his head, trying to figure that out, and not getting anywhere. He was nearly frustrated with this. "Mac, just tell me what you want me to do." His eyebrows winced to a pained look of desperation to just solve it here and now. "I don't want to go back to Washington with us tap dancing around this thing like we used to."  
  
"Neither do I," she insisted.  
  
"Well then, what?" He shrugged. "I can't take it back. and I've already tried to make it stop." He realized what they were really and truly talking about. His eye widened on her and he pulled in a ragged breath to reel it back in again.  
  
She watched his expression change when he yanked his emotions back into control and showed him the disappointment in her eyes over it.  
  
He sighed, dropping his hands to his sides and leaning his back against the opposite door jam. He closed his eyes, shrugged pitifully and whispered, "Just tell me what you want me to do."  
  
She pointed at his chest with a soft voice. "I want you to stop doing that."  
  
He breathed twice and glanced away. "I can't."  
  
She came to her feet with a huff and started to turn away.  
  
"We're both still at JAG!" He watched her step back into her room, going nowhere in particular. "What happens when we have to face each other down in court afterwards? Or worse, what happens if one of us is in the pit and the other's on the gavel?"  
  
She turned to him with a flick in her brow. "You mean, you're in the pit and I'm on the gavel."  
  
He dropped his hand to his thigh with a slap at her digression. He let it hang in the air for several seconds and waved it at her again. He raised the real question. "Could you still do your job?" He shook his head until his eyes landed on her, "Because I'm not sure if I could."  
  
She waved her hand back at him, "You dream about it all the time and you seem to do okay. I certainly didn't notice until it came up in conversation."  
  
"That's different." He said to his feet. "It's just dreaming, Mac." He shrugged. "I don't think about them later." his voice died into a beaten whisper, "most of the time."  
  
"Do you have this problem with anyone else?" Her tone still fought to stay loud and irritated, "Am I the only bear that cooks your breakfast?"  
  
He meant to answer but flashed a smile and dropped his head back to the door jam with reluctant laughter their new slang.  
  
She stayed where she was and tried not to let it break her, but she grinned and hid her eyes with her fingers.  
  
Harm raised his hands to play with the pealing paint on the top lip of the door jam. He smiled and said it casually, "Mac, you've been the only bear to cook my breakfast for three years." He sighed out his nose and hung his fingers off the lip again, letting his forehead drop into his forearms. "Even when I've had somebody else actually cooking my breakfast when I wake up." He grinned pathetically. "It used to drive Rene insane."  
  
"You told Rene?"  
  
"No, I." he chuckled, looking back up to the door jam with a blush his eyes. His voice died to admit it quietly, "said your name once."  
  
Mac dropped her mouth open and turned away. Laughter shuddered in her chest and her cheeks flushed.  
  
Harm glanced over at her reaction and grinned down to his feet. He crossed his ankles, slid his hands into his front pockets and pulled in a deep sigh. The radio started playing Stand By Me and he sighed again, closing his eyes to hide between crying and laughing out loud as he listened to it.  
  
Mac glanced over and then strolled over. Seeing his mouth purse and gently bob as he sang the song in his head. She stepped to the wall behind his shoulder and searched for something to say. She watched him mouth through two more lines of the song and gave up trying to talk.  
  
Mac turned around and rested her back on the wall behind him, letting her shoulder bump into his and sighed in the gentle silence. She didn't look when she reached her hand over and touched her fingers on the inside of his forearm, but she closed her eyes with relief when he accepted her offer.  
  
He didn't look back. He just slid his hand from his pocket and weaved his fingers into hers. They held hands with tender intensity, brushing thumbs across the back of the other's and occasionally drawing up a long, depressed sigh.  
  
This song rolled into the next one that was just as old and just as classic, What a Wonderful World. It brought a weak smile to both faces.  
  
Mac whispered weakly, "Do you know how often I've been tempted to leave JAG just so I could have you?"  
  
He turned his ear to her, but he didn't look. He closed his eyes and squeezed her hand.  
  
"But if I did," she sniffed a smile, "I'd lose you."  
  
Harm squeezed agreement again but held it tight.  
  
It was the perfect paradox. It was working together that they fell in love with. They saw each other every day. They fought, laughed, debated, reported, investigated, deliberated, confiscated and emancipated together for years. They were as close as it could legally get and still be in the same command. In order to step out any further into the abyss, they would have to abandon all that familiar ground. One would have to transfer out of JAG and ship out before they could have any kind of a relationship, and then they'd be separated by sea duty anyway.  
  
They were better off where they were.  
  
And that led them to the same place they'd always been.  
  
They listened until the song was over and the commercials started. Harm pulled up her hand and kissed the back of it before letting go. He sighed deeply, and turned away without having met her eye, muttering quietly. "Good night."  
  
Mac dropped her head to the wall with a thump and grinned weakly. "Sweet dreams."  
  
He hitched a grin and she heard it. "You too." He said with a weak grin and pushed his door gently to close. Closing it completely felt like he'd be making too much of a statement about shutting her out. He paused at the last inch in this thought and ended up leaving it cracked.  
  
Mac listened to the radio as she dressed for bed and switched off the light. She thought long and hard about everything. She climbed into bed and curled up on her side like a child.  
  
Harm turned off his light and turned off his radio. She listened to him climb into bed and silence filled the air.  
  
It was a long time before either of them fell asleep.  
Mac awoke at precisely 2 am and was instantly nervous. She rolled in her bed and stared into the darkness, debating endlessly against her own idea. Her number one fear was not that it would ruin their friendship, ruin their careers, break a code, become a relationship, not become a relationship, fall in love, or get found out by the Admiral.  
  
Her number one fear was that he'd turn her down.  
  
Mac opened the bedside drawer and pulled out the blindfold. She slid out of bed and moved to the joining doors. She paused, listening, and carefully pulled hers open. It squeaked and she winced, but it wasn't too loud or too long. She moved the door open only far enough to fit through it and licked her lower lip. The blindfold was the only piece of cloth she carried with her, or on her, when she moved to the second joining door.  
  
Her fingers were careful and limber to press it open a few inches. The darkness in her room poured into the darkness of his. She could hear his breathing. She could smell his uniform. He didn't move.  
  
She pressed the door open a few inches further until it was open enough to slide through. Her bare feet were silent against the carpet. She stepped in and moved the door to an inch from closed behind her. She breathed slow, deliberate breaths through an open mouth and stood there, looking at the dim street lights shine through the curtains and barely light up the sleeping sailor. His face was turned away from her. His breathing was deep and steady in sleep.  
  
Again, she debated it for a long moment.  
  
She stepped slowly and carefully around the foot of the bed, taking pause every two or three steps to see if he stirred. As his face came into the dim light and hers completely adjusted to it, she could see enough to read the expression on his face. Harm was dreaming peacefully.  
  
Mac took the final step to the side of the bed. If he opened his eyes now, all he'd see was a naked body. Next was the real trick: sliding into the bed without waking him, and putting on the blindfold before he did. She knew he would probably stir and wake to a degree, but she didn't know how much. She picked up the blankets and pealed them back carefully, yet not to the point of uncovering him. She moved to keep the light shining over her shoulder and onto his face so she could watch for a change in expression, and with excruciating slow movements, lowered her body into the bed.  
  
Her heart was pounding as she looked up at him. This was the point of no return. She carefully moved the covers back over her and paused a moment to control her own breathing.  
  
When she recovered, she looked up at his face again. The globes of his eyes moved under his lids. Mac enjoyed the view a moment, and then bit the tip of her tongue as she lifted her hands. She carefully snuck on the blindfold. She let the soft silk rest on his eyes first and slowly let down the elastic strap behind his head.  
  
His mouth pressed a little like he was squinting.  
  
Her hands hovered in the air in fear. Then she realized that it was time to start waking him up anyway. She let her hands down and tucked them under the covers. She watched her fingers reach for his chest, but trembled in the air between them.  
  
Suddenly, she was shy. It felt like a teen girl sneaking into her camp counselor's room. It was foreign. It was terrifying. If he woke up and kicked her out of bed with that wrinkled-brow-mouth-open-wince that he did when he thought she'd gone crazy, she'd be permanently mortified.  
  
Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.  
  
Mac swallowed hard.  
  
Harm stirred.  
  
Her eyes flung back open when he started moving. He stirred to adjust for comfort, but he stirred right into her. A knee bumped her leg. A chest moved into her fingers. His mouth pressed in confusion and his arm slid up.  
  
"You're dreaming," she whispered quickly. Mac's fingers blocked the path of his hand, and it paused there. His mouth pealed open as if he were squinting harder or waking up or trying to speak.  
  
"Harm." She brought her mouth to his lips and whispered her breath onto him before he spoke. "You're dreaming."  
  
His mouth froze open as if to stay where she touched him. She carefully took his hand under the covers and brought his fingers to find her waist. Harm's breathing stumbled into soft uneven gasps. His fingers reached from where they hovered, verifying the naked skin with only a feather soft touch of the tips. The touch sent electricity up her spine and her own breathing went ragged.  
  
His fingertips traced slow heat onto her skin as they traveled fearfully but curiously down her hip. Then his mouth opened a little more and reached for hers just as slowly. She folded her lips in to his, already dying in his touch. Then Harm actually reached a little further to kiss her.  
  
It was tender, almost teasing. His tongue moved on hers with the same gentleness that his fingertips traveled over her hip and down the outside of her thigh. He could have still been asleep. His mouth and fingers were finding her like he was afraid any fast moves would make the dream shatter. He could have been awake and simply moving with reluctance. His kiss pulled away to lick his lips.  
  
Mac opened her eyes again to see any expression, but without his eyes, all she could detect was soft shock. He settled his lips to just touch hers, breathing into her mouth as ragged and as deep as she breathed into his. She finally brought her fingers to his skin and let them tremble gently up his stomach to his chest. His body moved into it with a deep breath. His fingertips slid like velvet until it was his whole palm rested on her hip. He pulled his right hand from under the pillow and cradled her face with another touch that was just as soft and unsure. His left hand traveled up her waist and back until fingers dug softly into her hair and his mouth opened on hers again, groping her mouth with increasing desire and alertness. Her hand felt up his chest and to his neck, feeling his cheek as he kissed her. His fingertips caressed down her spine until his big palm settled warmly on her hip again. His mouth came up for soft gasps and his right thumb caressed her cheek and her nose and her lips.  
  
She opened her eyes at his pause.  
  
He heaved breaths of shock between long moments of holding it. "Mac," he panted softly. "This isn't dreaming." He started to smile at how sweet and warm and crazy this was and pointed out. "This is cheating."  
  
"No," she whispered a terrified smile into his mouth. "This is dreaming." She swallowed and let her palm slide down to his shoulder and chest. "This is where you let your subconscious play, remember?" Her leg slid over to find his. "And no one will know of your mistakes when you wake up." She watched his face with bated breath.  
  
"I will. and you will." he swallowed a dry throat.  
  
"I'll remember nothing more than a dream," she whispered. "And so will you."  
  
His tongue played with his front teeth as he debated and considered this, but he ended up biting his lower lip when his hand caressed back up her waist beyond his control. "Ho Jesus Sarah." It was barely a whisper, barely a muttered whisper. His mouth moved back on to hers before he finished saying it and was kissing her again before she'd realized what he said.  
  
His fingertips drew trails on her stomach and his kiss was so fear-filled it was incredibly tender. She let her hand slide back up his chest and combed her long fingers into his hair. His fingertips reached her breast and slowed even more to feel his way onto it, making her nipple harden before his fingers even got there. His thumb moved gently over the peak and his mouth pulled away again to heave soft breaths of fear and panic. His chin ducked a little as his hand moved over her breast. Her mouth opened to watch his parted lips and worried cheeks. She slid her hand over his shoulder and over his side.  
  
He looked like he was about to change his mind.  
  
His hand left her breast.  
  
She ducked her chin, the rejection already started to show in her face.  
  
He tried to look at her and winced harder. His right hand came from her face and touched the blindfold on his eyes.  
  
He breathed out a smile so big that his tongue touched his teeth and chuckled softly when he slid his arm under her head to cradle her. He softly sighed out his chuckle and adjusted his head on the pillow until the tip of his nose found hers and then rested there a moment, still and silent. He sighed a smile of content at the feel of her in his arms and considered just leaving his dream at that.  
  
It was supposed to be his dream after all. right?  
  
Mac started to grin as she tried to guess what he was thinking with only half of his expression to work with. She could tell, at least, that he pleased with something, even humored. She snuggled her naked body into his arms, perfectly content with that much, and sighed softly.  
  
A voice spoke from somewhere deep in the gallows of Harm's mind. She's finally in you're arms, Rabb, Admiral Chegwidden spat at him with attitude, Don't be an idiot.  
  
Harm closed his mouth and his nose brushed hers. Then his hand started moving again, and his fingertips drew up her hip with intense purpose. He nuzzled in for a new kiss, slow and sweet, and his palm slid over her ass, softly grabbed her thigh, and pulled her over.  
  
She slunk into him like she belonged there. She caught her breath and let him drag her leg over his. She opened her mouth to him and let her fingers stray aimlessly over his skin. The fear and uncertainty of his touch was flooded out with tenderness and lust. His palm felt up and down her body and increased in confidence with every lap. His tongue explored her mouth in a gentle invasion. His body pressed to her, kissing her and groping her as he slowly pushed her over on her back.  
  
She dropped her head back into the pillow when he pressed his hips against her and his mouth tucked down to taste a line of kisses down her throat. His knees raised him up again, hovering over her. He settled on his elbows around her head and lovingly kissed everything his mouth could find.  
  
She adjusted her legs around him, drawing on his calf with her toes. Her hand tucked under the pillow to fetch the second thing she brought, and raised it to her mouth so she could rip it open with her teeth.  
  
Harm's mouth paused at her ear when he heard it and he caught his breath more than once with a new realization of what they were about to do. He tried to tell himself he was just dreaming, but it wasn't working.  
  
Both of her hands groped down his stomach, slowed at his abdomen, and paused lightly on him.  
  
He forgot what he was thinking about. He inhaled sharply through his nose and quivered his breath at her temple. She caressed him, slowly yanking him under her complete control and, when his breath stopped entirely and his stomach started to tremble, she dressed him.  
  
She opened her eyes to find a new expression on his mouth, one she'd never seen before. She slid her hands up to his face and pulled him down to kiss her again. He melted onto her for it. He flattened against her, warming her body from knees to neck, kissing her mouth deep and scared as if trying to distract them both, and sliding skin against skin until they slid smoothly together like lock and key.  
  
Mac pulled away her mouth to gasp and Harm tucked his own breath of shock to her ear. Her claws dug into his sides. His fingers combed into her hair. She panted his name. He swallowed to calm his stomach. He pulled back carefully only to press in again. The second wave of sweet electricity was more intense than the first. It was instantly addictive and the addiction pushed away another rational thought every slow, sweet time their bodies pressed together.  
  
He pushed out a small cry from her throat and captured it with a deep, deliberate kiss. She kissed him back but let out tiny cries into his mouth. Her claws begged him to keep going, keep up, keep coming. His mouth finally had to pull away to make his own deep noise. He gritted his teeth to keep control and let his mouth rest at her temple again. Her cries got louder and his got deeper and, when Harm realized that he was about to lose his mind, whether he liked it or not, he whispered out her name with a pant of the dirtiest demand she'd ever heard him say.  
  
She was nearly clawing blood out of his back by now, but his whisper cranked up the intensity beyond imagination. Her reaction was vivid despite the blindfolded. He grinned gritted teeth and whispered more between his deepening grunts. She quivered and he tightened. She shook and he pressed. She clawed and he shoved. And then she screamed and he growled.  
  
They seizured against each other and trembled to a stomach churning collapse. A thin sheet of sweat oiled their stomachs. The breath of the air conditioner sudden came into earshot. Harm found his mouth tucked next to her ear, still trying to catch his breath and Mac hands were suddenly shy on his torso again.  
  
Awkward moment number 485.  
  
Harm squeezed his eyes shut and quickly kissed her to try to catch the moment before it was gone entirely. Mac kissed him back, but was still catching her breath. She pulled away to breathe and pant and bite her lips together. He pressed his eyes closed even more and lowered his face to her temple again, squinting hard with regret. He gave her a long slow loving kiss on her forehead and scooped her body up in his arms to pull her with him when he rolled to his side.  
  
He pulled it off of him and leaned back to put it on the nightstand, flipping the top over with his fingers so it wouldn't spill. When he came back, she was trembling at his side. He desperately wanted to pull the blindfold off and look at her, but knew now why she put it on in the first place.  
  
If they didn't look each other in the eye now, they would still be able to look each other in the eye tomorrow.  
  
He settled his palm on her body and cuddled her into him. He tried to think of the right thing to say or the right thing to do, but she told him what that was going to be.  
  
"Go to sleep," said her trembling whisper. Her fingers combed lovingly into his hair. She was probably watching him.  
  
Harm leaned over and groped his mouth for hers. He plucked off one incredibly tender kiss, trying to make it say all the things he couldn't. He hovered next to her mouth, wanting to say them anyway. "Sarah.."  
  
"Ssshh." Her palm rested on his cheek and guided his head back down onto the pillow. Her nose brushed against his and she whispered it with tender loving care. "You're just dreaming."  
  
Harm closed his eyes and swallowed hard.  
  
He didn't want to be dreaming.  
  
He tried to relax into her. He tried let his mind fall into the cuddling. He tried to fall back asleep. But it took concentration to settle in and not move. It took work not to open his eyes when she slipped off the blindfold. It made him wince to feel her slip out of his grip. It made him embarrassed to hear her pick it up off the nightstand se she could dispose of it.  
  
But it hurt from the inside out when she stepped out of the room, gently closed the door, and locked it behind her. 


	4. Friday

Friday  
  
The air felt colder than usual at six o'clock in the morning. Harm let the wind sting the sweat on his brow and just ran harder down the sleeping street to god knows where. The only thing that made noise was an occasional bird and his sneakers on the pavement, but his brain was making plenty of noise on its own.  
  
It started out as sweet lovemaking, but he ended up fucking her brains out by the time it was over. It sent the entirely wrong message, and realized that it was the same message he'd received from her. Was all this, all this time, just about sex?  
  
He shouldn't have whispered those things in her ear. He couldn't even remember exactly what he had said, but he remembered enough to know that the words themselves were unsuitable in mixed company. The sentences he probably put them in were down right wrong.  
  
What bothered him the most was that she didn't slap him for it. She should've. Even considering where they were at the time. But then, she came to him in the first place.  
  
His feet slowed to a stop and he set his hands on his knees to pant at the sidewalk.  
  
She came to him. Why did he feel guilty?  
  
He stood tall again and blew out his pant. The perspiration was growing cold in his running sweats and he forced himself to turn around and run back.  
  
They had a case to solve. He was going to have to face her, sooner or later, and somehow manage to pretend it was just a dream. He hoped she'd be in uniform by the time he got back. Somehow, the uniform was a chastity belt on her. It wasn't because she was a Marine and it wasn't because she was Mac. It worked for all of them, no matter how gorgeous or willing. His hands managed to never reach for a uniform.  
  
He huffed and ran and stared at nothing on the street in front of him. And he reluctantly accepted that it wasn't reaching for her he was worried about. They'd been working so well for so long that they could have entire conversations by expression alone in a room full of clueless people. The trick had fallen into necessity when they were in front of a suspect or battling politics or side by side in court, but the trick required eye contact. The only time it didn't work was in Saudi where she was forced to wear a black burqa out in town. She was so covered that day that he couldn't read her cues.  
  
He settled his run to a long stride to cool down and hitched a grin.  
  
Even if he could talk her into climbing into a damned burqa, it wouldn't to him any good. He would still be able to see her eyes.  
  
He set his hands on his hips and loosened his legs as he walked back to the hotel. The traffic on the road was thickening and sun started coming up. He pressed his mouth and closed his eyes and tried to reel it all back in like he always did.  
  
He was at the door to his room by the time he realized it wasn't coming.  
  
"Coffee?" Mac offered brightly, already walking back to her room through the joining doors. She was in uniform, thank god, but he could see it in her shoulders anyway.  
  
He saw the two Styrofoam cups on the table and closed the room door. He sighed through his nose, picked it up for a sip, watching her move around her room like a little busy bee. He couldn't find his voice to even say 'thank you' or 'I'm going to jump in the shower'.  
  
He took another sip of the coffee and closed his eyes.  
  
"The Admiral called while you were out," she called from the other room.  
  
"How did he sound?" His voice cracked when he said it.  
  
"Mad," she smiled. "He's thinking AWOL. He said he's ready to have us come home even if we don't find Wallis soon."  
  
Harm grinned a half smile, knowing exactly what that meant. He could hear the Admiral's voice saying it too. He could also imagine the Admiral's scowl when he and Mac paused too long in the coffee mess. It was a good thing that this didn't go down in Washington.  
  
She stepped to the doors and looked in at him still standing there in his running sweats with a cup of coffee his hand. "Harm, hurry up. I'm hungry." Her voice was so easy that it was like she forgot.  
  
His eyes opened by accident and were instantly caught on hers. He drew in a long slow breath and held it as he swallowed.  
  
She tried to smile and motioned to him to get moving with a shy wince. "Come on. Reveille, reveille." But it was still in her eyes, stuffed so far in the back that he was probably the only one who would have recognized it.  
  
He let out his breath through his nose. He wanted to talk to her. He wanted to say something about it. He wanted to apologize.  
  
She could tell it was coming before he even opened his mouth and turned away with a friendly but insistent order. "If you're not ready in twenty minutes I'm leaving without you."  
  
He sighed it out again, put down his coffee, and moved to his bathroom. He closed the door, dropped his body against the blues hanging on the wall and shut his eyes tight before he kicked his sneakers off.  
  
The cold shower did him no good and climbing into his blues did even less. He stepped out with his jacket in his hand and his stocking feet, but he was covered enough to finish up in the room.  
  
Mac was at the table, looking into files and taking notes. She paid no attention to him when he first came out, but snuck a glance as he laid out his jacket on the bed. His white uniform shirt covered his chest and black slacks covered his legs, but that no longer helped matters any.  
  
He wouldn't look at her. He just turned back to the dresser to collect his fruit salad and gold wings and turned back to the bed to pin them onto his clean black jacket.  
  
She yanked her eyes back to the file and tried to remember what she was looking for. She set it down and looked over the rest of the paperwork, forcing a friendly, business-as-usual tone in her voice, "What's the plan of the day?"  
  
He picked up the jacket and pulled it over his arms. "Find Wallis." He finally looked at her as he adjusted it on his neck and pulled it closed. "We should retrace his steps."  
  
She frowned a nod of approval at that and looked back at the stuff on the table. But she would have given him the same response no matter what he said.  
  
He watched her from over his nose as he buttoned up and pulled his eyes away again to find his shoes. "Where do you want to eat?"  
  
She shrugged. "Drive through. I want to get started questioning the rest of these names."  
  
He whined at her as he yanked his shoelaces, "Mac, it's six thirty in the morning. Nobody's up but us."  
  
She pushed out of the chair, annoyed that she couldn't hide this in work as soon as possible, and angry that he wasn't helping. "I'm sure we can find something to do," she hissed and marched back into her own room.  
  
He huffed out a sigh and yanked his other shoelace into a bow and stomped down on his feet to grab his cover and hook it under his arm. He shuffled papers together on the table and realized that they she separated sheets from their files again. He huffed again, threw his hat on the bed, and sat down to figure out which sheet belonged where.  
  
She slammed the door to her bathroom.  
  
He paused and closed his eyes.  
  
Knock. Knock. Knock.  
  
Harm sat up to glance at his door and stood up to open it. A young maroon uniformed girl smiled at him like she had a crush on him already. "Oh good you're awake. This arrived for you." She thumbed behind her and handed him a fed ex pack. "I saw you running so," she shrugged her apology about delivering it so early.  
  
He rose his brows and took it. "Oh no. Don't worry about it. Thank you." He reached into his pocket for a tip and realized he hadn't filled them yet. "Just a minute."  
  
Work had arrived and it was enough of a chunk to neutralize the tension in the room. He stepped quickly to the dresser, grabbed a five and smiled at the girl as he handed it out to her. "Thank you very much."  
  
His smile looked like more of a tip than the five did. The girl's eyes lit up like diamonds and she shyly stepped away. "Your welcome."  
  
Harm closed the door and ripped open the pack. There were two old fat service records and several data search results in a third boring manila file. "Thank you, Bud. You get a beer as soon as I get home."  
  
He glanced up to see if she'd emerged, but called to her anyway. "Service records!"  
  
She shot out of the bathroom and marched over.  
  
"You want Wallis or Young?"  
  
"Wallis," she said.  
  
He handed it over and sat down with the rest.  
  
She sat down and reached for- Her brows winced. "Where's the online record? It was right here."  
  
He reached into a stack of stuff he'd put away and handed her the file without looking at her, but this time it was because of having to share a desk with her. She couldn't keep an envelope organized and he couldn't stand not being able to find things. For a moment, he imagined what it would be like to have to live with her and his brain nearly exploded.  
  
"I'm starting to see why she was so disgusted that he made Chief," she commented.  
  
Harm was already reading up on the incident out of Young's record. "Explain."  
  
"These sexual harassment and assault infractions, it's not the usual dirty words and bar scuffles. He's stalking in this one.. this one looks like rape bargained down on a technicality. and Young's. my god."  
  
"Yeah, I'm looking at it," he mumbled, sitting back in his chair and sinking his mind back into the case.  
  
They silently read both sides of the same story, but when they came up again, Mac was no more convinced of one side than Harm was on the other. He put the file down and flipped up the pages to look at other forms of data. He blew soft air with a shake of his head.  
  
Mac looked at the online file again, comparing one to the other. "No next of kin. Next of kin: David Wallis, Springfield Missouri.. Date he made E6 is different.. All the infractions are missing.."  
  
Harm sat up and propped his elbow on the table to wince over at this.  
  
She hitched a grin, "He went to DS school. He's not even a PN." She blinked and slid it over. "This guy's been gundecking his own service record."  
  
"No," he winced in disbelief. He pulled it over to look at it closer, but there wasn't a better explanation for it. He started nodded reluctantly and flipped up pages. "There's no second award for second class in here." He shook his head and pointed, "E5 June 1990. Lost E5 December 1992. E6 1995.. He didn't even make second class again?" He looked back to the online record and hitched a breath. and pointed to it on the summary. "E5 April 93."  
  
Mac shook her head with a grin, "No wonder she was baffled he made Chief. this record would've never made it through a review board."  
  
Harm nodded without really listening and rubbed his lip as he read further.  
  
Mac sat back in her chair. "All right. We have a man who's apartment is emptied, his car is abandoned, his service record's been gundecked at least back to 1992. And one year ago, he got orders to precisely the same location of his stalking victim from ten years ago. What does that tell you?"  
  
Harm nodded at the file. "If she didn't kill him, she should've?" He slapped it shut and pushed it away, leaning back in the chair.  
  
"He doesn't want to be found," she corrected. "He's AWOL, Harm."  
  
He squinted at her, offering debate. "He sells or ships everything he owns, except a one uniform?"  
  
"How do we know it's his?"  
  
"Stencil," he said with a shrug.  
  
Mac angled her head and raised brow.  
  
Harm's eyes flashed wide. "Where's the phone book?" He scrambled out of his chair to dig it out and bring it back to the table.  
  
She grinned as she got up, clasped her hands arrogantly behind her back and stepped to look over his shoulder at it. "And I guarantee you that a Military Surplus store will be open at six thirty in the morning."  
  
The place was in a rat hole mini mall on the edge of town, stuffed between a Thai restaurant and a porn shop. Harm whipped the glass door open and Mac strutted in, already asking the man behind the counter. "Good morning, have you had a big influx of Navy uniforms in the past few weeks?"  
  
The old, fat, Viet Nam vet looked at Mac and then at Harm, blinked, and shook his head awake. "Um, yes ma'am. Uh." he blew the sudden burst of energy out of his mouth and climbed out of his creaky chair. "We've got lots of Navy stuff."  
  
They followed him through the crowded aisled of olive drab and navy blue. Empty Ammo boxes stacked up in a corner, old rifles along the wall, more sea bags than you could shake a stick at. The place smelled like a dusty old supply shed. He stopped at a rack that ran across the entire back wall. The old uniforms were separated by type, making the whites stand out like a sore thumb.  
  
"Is this all your new stuff?" Harm pushed back to the first uniform and flipped through quickly just by the insignias still on the shoulders.  
  
He stepped out of their way and shrugged. "Well the new stuff is in there. Whatchya looking for?"  
  
Mac took the other end of the whites and flipped through as well, but checked the stenciling on the labels regardless of rank insignia. "When was the last time you had some one bring in a lot of Navy uniforms?"  
  
"Couple of weeks ago."  
  
"Was it one person?"  
  
"Yeah, some Chief said he was about to retire. He didn't look old enough to be retiring to me, but everybody looks young these days." He shoved his hands into his pockets.  
  
Harm pulled a picture out of his pocket and handed it over. "Is this the guy?"  
  
He nodded, "Yeah, that's him. He brought in a full garbage bag. Blues, whites, patches. the works."  
  
Mac pulled out one and flipped it over her shoulder. "Got one."  
  
Harm kept looking. "Anybody buy any of his stuff?"  
  
The guy lifted his chin. "Is this about that Chief's uniform on the college flag pole?"  
  
Harm glanced up.  
  
The guy grinned and jerked his head for them to follow. "I was wondering when somebody would show up about that." Harm and Mac exchanged glances, and swiveled to follow him back to his front counter. "The tape records over itself every twenty four hours." He motioned to his security camera. "So when I saw the flagpole on my way into work, I switched tapes." He pulled the VHS tape out and moved to the VCR hidden under the counter. He gave them a grin. "I kinda thought they looked suspicious."  
  
Mac and Harm leaned on the scratched glass counter top and the man fast forwarded through a boring Sunday until he found the three bodies come in to the shop at once. They were middle-eastern men, young, and two carried backpacks. They moved through the store, bouncing off of each other as they found stuff and collected it. They bought all kinds of uniforms and one ammo box. They paid cash, bagged their goods, and left.  
  
"They were speaking Arabic the whole time," the guy said, handing Mac the remote so she could rewind to look at it again. "I'd guess they were in their early twenties."  
  
"Where's the sound?" Mac asked.  
  
He shook his head. "No sound. It's illegal for security cameras to record sound or color in the State of California."  
  
Harm glanced at that and dropped his elbows on the counter top with a huff.  
  
Mac gave the man back his remote and put down Wallis' uniform. "We're going to need the tape as evidence."  
  
The guy nodded easily and ejected it.  
  
Harm pulled out the picture of Wallis again. "The guy that dropped the uniforms off. When did he come in?"  
  
"About a week and a half ago, maybe two weeks."  
  
"Was he in uniform?"  
  
"No. He was in black slacks and a gray shirt."  
  
"Did he have anybody with him?"  
  
He shook his head.  
  
Mac glanced over at Harm. Harm twisted his mouth at her and looked back at the vet. "Did you see what he was driving?"  
  
He nodded and glanced at the door. "White truck."  
  
Mac stood up and smiled. "Do you have receipt record of what he dropped off?"  
  
The old vet fumbled around a hidden shelf and pulled up a dirty and worn receipt book. Only the pink copies were left. He flipped through the thing until he founded it and turned it around to them.  
  
It was Wallis' name and the same address that was abandoned. There was a long list of various uniforms. Most of were chief or first class, whites, blues, khakis, what have you. The last item on the list however, was a female uniform.  
  
Harm pointed at it. "Do you still have the female blues?"  
  
The vet nodded, "Yeah."  
  
Mac stood up again. "Where? Show me."  
  
He was more awake this time to lead them back to the rack to the ladies blues. "I'm not sure which one it is. It had nothing on it but the crow. And the skirt had a big burn hole in it, so I tossed that. The jacket's in here somewhere."  
  
Mac flipped through and checked the stencils on each inside pocket. Harm turned to the vet. "Describe this burn hole."  
  
He pulled a quick sigh and looked to the air, "Well since I can't figure out which way is front on those things, I can't tell you what side it was on, but it was about this big around and the center was melted gone." He held his hands out the size of a personal pizza.  
  
Mac smiled and yanked out blues jacket with a red and white, single chevron crow. "Here it is. ET3 Young."  
  
Harm took one look at it and grinned at the vet. "We'll have to take that too."  
  
Throwing the uniform and the video tape into the trunk, and filing away the receipt copy in a brief case, they felt victorious again. They both climbed onto their cell phones before even getting into the car. Mac called Bud to have an AWOL search started on Chief Wallis. Harm got on the phone with Jack Reiner to brief him the new information.  
  
The investigator wasn't convinced though. He had a search warrant for Young's place in progress and demanded to see the service records. Mac got off the phone long before Harm did, and she waited next to the car's other fender as she listened to Harm argue.  
  
"We have evidence to suggest then it wasn't even his uniform anymore, so even if you still have a homicide, Young no longer has a connection. Yes, I understand that she works at the college but so do thousands of other people--.. A negative attitude towards the military and motive are not suitable grounds for a search warrant. But I just gave it to you-" His brows flicked then lifted. He sighed as he hung up and shook his head patiently. "He's still getting the search warrant because of the truck on her street."  
  
The corner's of Mac's mouth curled up a touch. "We have no jurisdiction."  
  
Harm gritted his teeth of a grin and stepped to the driver's door.  
  
Mac smiled out a shout as she moved to her door. "She's a civilian!"  
  
He nodded as he started the car.  
  
Mac propped her elbow on the window sill and grinned to watch him drive out of the parking lot. "The Admiral will say 'no'," she sang gently.  
  
He turned towards the Young side of town anyway.  
  
He stopped at a quiet street light and waited, propping his elbow and rubbing his lower lip with his index finger. A grin was starting to twinkle in his eye but his voice was quiet and careful, "It's easier to get forgiveness than permission."  
  
Mac blew out a pathetic chuckle and shook her head, closing her eyes as if cursed but smiling as if she liked it.  
  
Harm slid his eyes to look at her. His eyes were shiny.  
  
Mac saw it, tightened her teeth with a sparkle in her eye, and waved him to go. "It's green ."  
  
Her phone rang. "Colonel Mackenzie," she greeted with the giggle still in her voice, but her tone calmed forcibly. "Yes, sir. no, sir, actually," she glanced at Harm. "We have a newer development. The police still think she's a suspect. yes sir." she glanced at Harm again and he flicked to exchange it between driving tasks. "Yes, sir, We concur that he's AWOL..." she inhaled carefully, looking at Harm. "The next flight back to Washington?" she echoed and Harm pulled over to the next available curb before she had a chance to give the Admiral another 'yes, sir'.  
  
A bright sparkle lit her brown eyes when she handed Harm the phone and she fought to keep from making her laughter audible as she listened to him argue with the Admiral.  
  
He took the phone and put it to his ear and smiled. "Admiral, good morning, sir."  
  
The Admiral was in his usual mood. "Cut the crap, Rabb. Why am I on the phone with you?"  
  
Harm put on his innocently obedient but slyly debating voice. "Sir, I believe our suspect and her children are in danger. Wallis stalked, raped and assaulted her while she was still in the Navy in 1991 and though Wallis has been in the area for a year, he didn't call her until the day before he went AWOL. The local authorities are not convinced he's alive and therefore still consider her a primary suspect."  
  
Admiral interrupted him, whining pathetically, "Is this another one of your charity cases?"  
  
"Sir, I'd like a little time to verify that the local authorities are going in the right direction with this. If Wallis came here to stalk Young again, he's probably still in the area and in the progress of an elaborate plan to do bodily harm to her or her children, but if the police consider her a suspect, they're not going to be warm to giving her the protection she may need, sir."  
  
"Warm or cold, it's their job." The Admiral never liked the idea of having to send his people to do someone else's job. It was already a stretch to send them to California in the first place, but that stretch was getting longer.  
  
"Admiral, even if we leave the area right now, we won't fly into Washington until close of business, anyway. Sir, all I'm asking for is the weekend to wrap this up. The Colonel and I will be reporting for duty Monday morning either way."  
  
The Admiral thought long and hard for a moment. "What does the Colonel have to say?"  
  
Harm glanced over for her opinion and got a patient grin and a nod. "The Colonel is in agreement with me, sir."  
  
"She is?" He was surprised.  
  
Harm's voice faded to complete innocence. "Yes, sir."  
  
The Admiral sighed deeply. "All right. But unless you have evidence that Wallis is dead, I want you both back here by morning quarters."  
  
Harm smiled from ear to ear. "Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!"  
  
A laugh of surprise escaped Mac's mouth before pulled her lips closed again. She shook her head and glowed out to the street in disbelief that Harm got his wish.  
  
The Admiral squinted into the phone as if this was cause for concern. "Commander? Why are you in such high spirits over this?"  
  
Harm's breath caught a moment, his eyes flicked fearfully to anything away from Mac. His voice slipped to caution, but he managed a casual answer. "Well, sir, I guess I simply got a good night's sleep."  
  
Mac's eyes flung to him and found the careful concern in his brow. The smile had vanished from both of their faces. She turned her eyes away before Harm glanced over to meet them.  
  
"Hm," the Admiral grunted neutrally and brought his voice loud again. "Carry on."  
  
Harm's high spirits were gone. "Yes, sir." He hung up the phone after the Admiral did and handed it back to Mac with a deliberate attempt not to meet her eyes.  
  
She appreciated it. She watched the road as he pulled out onto it again and aimed them strait to the Young house. They were uncomfortably silent for most of the drive.  
  
Awkward moment number 486.  
  
As they passed a post office, Harm's eyes hung on the California state flag and the grizzly bear that decorated it. He ripped his eyes away to drive and swallowed again.  
  
She tried to sound upbeat. "We should grab some breakfast."  
  
Harm's head whiplashed to her, eyes wide open.  
  
Mac glanced over with surprise at his reaction and then inhaled nervously when she realized how he took it. His head was already rolling away again when she sputtered and waved at a passing MacDonald's, "Literally."  
  
"I'm sorry," he muttered into his hand, wanting to close his eyes and hide, but unable to do that and drive. "I'm sorry," he whispered again. He inhaled a shaky breath and tried to reel his soul back in, but it just wouldn't settle down. It stung when she left and it was still stinging.  
  
No matter the misunderstanding, he again forgot to stop for breakfast, but Mac was afraid to mention it again. She didn't think it was going to be this bad. She didn't think he was going to be this bad. It hadn't helped them at all, it just made things worse, and that was not her intent.  
  
It didn't matter now. The deed was done. Guilt and regret aside, they had to find a way to work together again. She thought they had fallen back into their usual pattern at the Military Surplus store, but if the Admiral was asking questions..  
  
"Maybe I should fly back tonight," Mac said quietly, motioning to the neighborhood they were entering. "We don't need both of us here to finish this."  
  
He pulled to the side of the road and parked behind a new rental in front of the Young house. His mutter was cold, "Yeah, maybe you should."  
  
It was his tone that stabbed her in the chest more than his words. She fought to keep it from showing in her face and ended up ducking her chin and pursing her lips hard to keep the insult from showing up in her eyes. She hadn't asked it to con him into talking her into staying, so she wasn't sure why she was so hurt by his agreement.  
  
Harm grabbed his cover without looking at her and climbed out of the car. He stepped around to the side walk in no hurry and waited as long as necessary for her to decide to climb out and join him.  
  
Mac cursed whispers at herself for doing it in the first place and eventually forced herself to climb out of the car. She put on her anger, but it was only as a defense. He flanked her toward the house and stood on his feet with crossed arms while she rang the doorbell and waited.  
  
She sneaked a glance back at him.  
  
He stood stiff and strong. His eyes flicked down at her from over his nose like he was angry, but his lips rippled, expressing something else entirely.  
  
The door opened wide and fast and Harm and Mac looked to the person that opened it, but it wasn't a person they'd seen before. The man was as tall as Harm, as old as Jodi's father, and as crass as Admiral Chegwidden. He had a trimmed gray mustache to match his trimmed gray hair, a horrendous burn scar the length of one fore arm, a smudged tattoo on the other, and a dark blue ball cap sitting squarely on his head that read, "USS Enterprise CVN-65, Senior Chief, Ret."  
  
His humorless eyes flicked from the Commander to the Colonel in front of him.  
  
Mac inhaled a nervous smile. "You must be Uncle Joe."  
  
His eyes had no response to that.  
  
Harm pulled off his cover. "I'm Commander Rabb and this is Colonel Mackenzie from the Judge Advocate General's office."  
  
The man lifted a brow with impatience.  
  
Harm paused.  
  
Mac smiled politely at the man, "We're here to see Jodi Young. Is she here?"  
  
He stepped back out of the way, holding the door, but that was the only motion of invitation he gave them. Mac nodded and took off her cover. "Thank you."  
  
There were four loud voices coming out of the dining room, out of sight, but the five year old came running out with a mad giggle and a bottle of syrup.  
  
"Jodi! JAG's on the quarterdeck!" Uncle Joe yelled as he shut the door. He took two steps to snatch the syrup out of the air with one hand and scoop him up like a sack of grain in the other. Mac and Harm followed cautiously into the kitchen to widen their eyes at the madness of breakfast.  
  
Skyler was planted back in one chair, still giggling at his Uncle. Steve Young was gathering forks and knives out of a drawer. Gary was trotting up with a Popular Science magazine to show his grampa something, and Jodi was pulling out the first waffle from the iron. She gave them a glance between movements. "Good news or bad news?"  
  
Harm and Mac stood at the door to stay out of the way. "Can you spare us a minute?  
  
Jodi turned around with a plate full of waffle and put it on the table in front of Skyler. "Does it look like I can spare a minute?" Her voice was sarcastic at them, but deep and commanding at the members of the household. "Skyler, sit! Gary!" She had to snap her fingers several times to pull Gary's attention and pointed at a chair. "Sit!"  
  
The children were not phased by her tone or her volume. They leisurely moved where they were ordered and eventually sat next to each other. Harm and Mac watched her order Joe and her father to the ends of the table, which they managed while taking the butter out of reach and commanding Gary to stop drumming his fork and knife.  
  
As she poured more batter onto the iron, she ordered them to sit down in the exact same manner. "Commander, Colonel. Sit."  
  
Mac rose a brow of surprise and was about to remind the woman they were officers.  
  
Harm looked over the crass energy at the table and touched Mac's arm before she spoke. Two Viet Nam vets and one rape victim outranked the need for formalities.  
  
The woman was stiff. "It's gonna have to wait until after breakfast." She let the waffle cook and stepped to them squarely. Suddenly she was impatient. "What else are gonna do, wait in the car?" She flapped an arm at them to, "Sit down."  
  
Harm shuffled his feet and glanced at Mac.  
  
Jodi motioned dramatically for them to move aside. "Can you at least get out of my way?"  
  
"You better sit down or you'll get run over," Steve warned them.  
  
Harm suddenly stepped forward into the kitchen and Mac went with him, realizing they were standing in front of the pantry door. Jodi pulled out a bottle of molasses and slipped through them to put it on the table.  
  
Mac stepped out of the way again, and realized the only real way to get out of the way was to sit down. So she did.  
  
Harm's lower lip winced a moment, but he sat down next to her. The two of them faced the two children. Gary was reciting an article about the layers of the atmosphere and Skyler was using an index finger to draw circles in the syrup on his plate. Steve Young put a hand out to calmly tell Gary to be quiet and Joe Young pulled the little hand out of the plate. "Napkin!"  
  
Jodi appeared between their shoulders briefly to put two mugs of coffee on the table with one hand and reach over Harm's head to hand Joe a paper towel with the other.  
  
Steve Young climbed out of his chair again to fetch the sugar but Jodi ordered him to sit.  
  
He threw his hands into the air and sat back down, giving Joe and the officers a humored wince about it. Joe giggled like a Popeye's pappy.  
  
"Can I interest you Officers in a waffle or two?" Steve tone was friendly. "It's not going to calm down enough for her to talk until after chow so you might as well join us."  
  
Two more mugs appeared in front of the Senior Chiefs as well as a box of sugar cubes. On her way back into the kitchen, she pulled Joe's cover from his head and snatched Harm's off his knee, setting them both on a clean counter. She stepped back for the Colonel's. Mac glanced up and handed it to her with a quiet thank you. The woman gave a brief, friendly smile of reply as she tossed it carefully into the counter with the others.  
  
Skyler started singing a song at Harm that he made up as he went along. He was bright as a brand new penny. Harm started to smile.  
  
Joe ducked in on his forearms with a soft voice and a grin. "You want to learn a new song?"  
  
The toddler ducked his chin to meet Joe's with a curious and delighted whisper. "What is it?"  
  
Steve tried to stop it with a palm and a wince across the table. "Joe. No."  
  
Joe smiled until his eyes twinkled at the boy and softly brought his voice up to a woman's high whine.  
  
"Who's that knocking on my door? Who's that knocking on my door? Who's that knocking at my door? Said the very loooooovely maiden."  
  
Harm recognized it and his brows shot up. Mac pulled in a mug and ducked behind the coffee. Jodi slapped a plate of waffle down in front of Gary in the same move that she snatched his magazine away from him. Her voice was tight. "Skyler, eat. Joe, no. Gary, get you finger out of your ear. Colonel, Commander, you want breakfast or not?"  
  
Harm glanced over at her and was about to say no, but Mac grinned and nodded. "If it's not too much trouble."  
  
Jodi chuckled, "Not at all. You're the only ones at the table with manners."  
  
Skyler started waving his fork and singing. "Said the very looooooooov madem."  
  
Joe sniggered at Harm and pointed the kid, proud as punch, then turned back to the kid to grumble out the Barnacle Bill side of the song,  
  
"Just open the door you fucking whore said Barnacle Bill the sailor."  
  
He stopped short when his coffee cup was yanked from his hand.  
  
Jodi stood at the corner between Harm and Joe with a plate of waffle in one hand, the coffee in the other, and a brow of warning at her uncle. "Cease and desist."  
  
He whimpered and reached a plea for his coffee.  
  
Steve chuckled into his mug. "Now that's how to punish a Chief."  
  
After enough silent communication, she put the mug back down in front of him and slid the plate of waffle in front of Harm.  
  
Joe motioned to the waffle and made another whimpering noise at her. He picked up his fork and knife and held them upright in statement. Steve realized the guests were being served first as well and did the same thing with a grin on his mouth. The two old salts seemed to get a kick out of making a nuisance of themselves in front of company. Their expressions were comic and their toddler-like whimpers classic. Mac started to giggle at it all.  
  
Jodi wasn't phased by any of it and kept buzzing around the kitchen. "Skyler, get your fork out of your hair. Gary, stop leaning the chair." She poured up another waffle and looked back. "Gary. GARY!"  
  
Gary's chair slammed down on all fours.  
  
Harm gave the ten year old a face of mutual fear and put his hands in his lap in a show that he was going to mind too.  
  
Steve motioned at Harm's waffle. "You'd better start eating that or he's gonna."  
  
Joe was already trying to sneak his fork over to Harm's plate.  
  
Harm chuckled and sat forward, reaching over his plate for the butter and picking up his fork.  
  
"Colonel?" Her voice was soft this time.  
  
Mac looked up and leaned back so the woman could put the plate of waffle in front of her. Steve was already teasing, picking up his fork with a sour face as if he were going to reach for it.  
  
Mac chuckled. "This is quite a crew you have here."  
  
Jodi only nodded as she stepped away again.  
  
Steve put down his fork. "You should see it when all four of us get together. Mac's eyes danced across the table, counting four already. Steve motioned to himself and his brother. "There's two more of us. Only they are bigger and louder."  
  
"There's more?" Harm handed Mac the butter and rose his brow at Joe. "Were you all in the Navy?"  
  
Joe cuddled his cup on the table and nodded.  
  
Jodi returned with a full napkin holder. "Can you believe I'm the only offspring among 'em?" She reached across the table to pull a butter knife out of Skyler's hand. "And I had to go a breed more." She moved away again.  
  
Steve tucked in and let his eyes shine through his glasses. "When she was little, we used to-"  
  
"No sea stories at the breakfast table!" Jodi ordered, trying not to smile.  
  
Steve sat back so his waffle could slide in front of him. "It's not a sea story."  
  
She gave him a look and spoke low, "No sea stories about parenting either."  
  
Joe wagged a finger at his brother, "Watch your coffee." Then he leaned back in his chair and hooted boot camp loud, "I fly my ass out here to cover your six and I'm the last to get a waffle!?"  
  
Jodi moved faster to pull it off the griddle and bring it over. "Sorry, sorry."  
  
Mac ate as she watched Jodi put a waffle in front of him and look over the table to make sure everyone was settled in. She stepped around the back of the table to make Skyler's hand stop stirring his milk with his fork and mutter to Gary not to talk with his mouth open. She wondered if anyone else noticed that the woman not only had no place at the table to sit, but wasn't getting a chance to eat even if there was one.  
  
As soon as she got her children somewhat under control, she stepped back around and poured herself a cup of coffee in a new mug.  
  
Harm elbowed Mac with a grin as he chewed and turned her mug around to read it. It was a cartoon group picture of a bunch of enlisted sailors in dungarees. One had bunny ears over his head, one had Groucho Marx glasses on, one had a dirty magazine, and so on. The caption read, "You can fool some of the brass some of the time, and if your careful, that's enough!"  
  
"Aren't those pilot's wings?" Gary was asking Harm with a curious squint.  
  
Harm glanced up and nodded. "Yes, they are."  
  
Joe winced horribly. "What's a pilot doing in JAG?"  
  
Harm caught his breath and ended up chuckling at his plate. Mac swallowed her bite and told Joe with a wrinkled nose. "He just wears it to collect the women."  
  
Harm turned to her with shock and smiling insult.  
  
"Ho!" Steve hooted loudly. "One point for the marine!"  
  
Joe chuckled wisely. "They must've started issuing brains at OCS since I got out."  
  
Jodi started laughing at what she was hearing and offered another clean waffle to the table. "Who's ready for another one?"  
  
Steve pointed to his plate with his fork. He wasn't completely finished with his first, but she slid it off the clean plate and onto his molasses- smeared, half-eaten breakfast.  
  
Harm tried to put sanity back into the conversation. "I transferred to JAG because of an injury, but I still keep up my qualifications."  
  
Gary squinted across the table with curiosity. "Can you get into the space program?"  
  
Harm glanced over and angled his head. "In what capacity?"  
  
Mac remembered the boy's room and grinned at Gary, "You want to be an astronaut?"  
  
Gary smiled and nodded. "Grampa says that I should try to be a Navy pilot, but mom says I should go to college, and teacher says I should join the Air Force."  
  
Both Senior Chief's hacked like they had hair balls as an editorial comment about the Air Force. Mac ducked a giggle behind her fork. Harm threw his head back and laughed. Skyler sang loudly to get anybody's attention. "Said the fairly loooooo madem!"  
  
From across the kitchen in a peaceful corner, Jodi watched the table get wild and loud, shook her head with a grinning sigh, and pulled a sip of coffee from her mug. She put it down to bring over another waffle. Joe was the only one that wanted it. She asked anybody else if they wanted one and moved away again.  
  
Steve was bragging to Mac about Gary's abilities in science, even at the age of ten. Gary was asking Harm questions about how to go from Navy Pilot to NASA. Joe had tucked in to teach Skyler another line of the Barnacle Bill song. And, while no one was looking, Jodi grabbed her pack of cigarettes and slipped out of the kitchen.  
  
Mac was the first to notice she was missing, but by that time, most of the plates were empty, Skyler was covered in syrup, Gary was reciting his magazine again, and Joe and Steve were alive with the raunchiest and funniest sea stories Harm had ever heard.  
  
She put her hand on Harm's shoulder with a quiet order to stay, and he slid a glance back to find Jodi missing. He nodded and turned his attention back to the cackling senior chiefs, keeping social cover so Mac could talk to her.  
  
Jodi was sitting on the park bench on the front porch, sucking hard on a cigarette and nursing a cup of coffee. Mac listened to the party-like banter continue pouring out from the kitchen and the sudden silence when she closed the front door.  
  
Jodi glanced over, grinned, and looked out to the peaceful morning. "And people wonder why I smoke."  
  
Mac crossed her arms with a grin and looked down at her foot as it rocked back on the high heal.  
  
"I smoke because I cannot drink." Jodi continued in a dramatically low tone with a scientific canter. "If I drank as much as I smoked, I'd be dead by now."  
  
Mac strolled easily around her and grinned wisely at the yard.  
  
Jodi's tone changed to apologies. "Sorry about the zoo over breakfast."  
  
Mac shook her head and swiveled softly to face her again. "No problem."  
  
Jodi sat back in the bench with her hands holding her coffee in her lap. Her shoulders were still slumped even sitting upright. She sighed heavily, preparing for the worst. "So, what can I do for you?"  
  
"We think Wallis is alive."  
  
Mac expected surprise, a draw for details, or at least some kind of relief, but Jodi reacted like it was the worst possible news Mac could have given her.  
  
Jodi leaned forward, put her elbows on her knees and dropped her head. She slowly closed her eyes and softly shook her head.  
  
Mac tucked her skirt under her so she could carefully sit down on the bench beside the woman. She gave her a long moment to recover from the news and put her own elbows on her knees, looking out to the dew drop grass and green sycamores. It looked like an average suburban street, but the neighborhood was so quiet, Mac couldn't even hear a car on a road from here.  
  
Jodi swallowed and lifted her head to look at the air in front of her. "So, ah, does that mean I can go?"  
  
"Where would you go?"  
  
Jodi shrugged and huffed weak humor from her nose.  
  
Mac sighed lightly. "It would be wiser for you to stay put. The police are still treating it as a possible homicide. They're on their way with a search warrant for your house."  
  
Jodi closed her eyes again.  
  
Mac glanced over, and glanced casually away again.  
  
"Fine," Jodi shrugged. "So why are you guys here?"  
  
Mac crossed her ankles. "We came to make sure the police didn't get off track with their investigation."  
  
Jodi sipped her coffee. "What do you mean?"  
  
Mac explained softly. "We have evidence to suggest that the uniform on the flag pole wasn't even Wallis', but until we find him, it's enough to treat it as a homicide. We also have evidence to suggest that he got himself stationed here just so he could continue stalking you. But we haven't had the chance to share that evidence with the civilians yet. So we came over to head them off at the pass."  
  
"What evidence?" Jodi squinted and shrugged. "What makes them think me a suspect but you guys think me a victim?"  
  
Mac grinned at her feet. "Would you like to see?"  
  
Jodi lifted a brow. Mac stood up. "Wait here." In a minute, she fetched the car key from Harm and returned with her cover on again, motioning for Jodi to follow. "Come see."  
  
Jodi put her mug down and flicked her cigarette away, squinting curiously at the Colonel's back all the way back to the rental. Mac opened the trunk and pulled out the blue's jacket, holding it in the air at Jodi.  
  
Jodi's face winced a little as she approached it. Her head angled as if she wasn't sure what this meant.  
  
"It's already been forensically compromised so you can touch it."  
  
Jodi looked at it and looked at Mac. "Why would I want to touch it?"  
  
Mac rose a brow like the woman wasn't getting it.  
  
Jodi's eyes flashed wide. "Is that. mine?!"  
  
Mac nodded and handed it over. "Wallis recently dumped all his uniforms at a local Military Surplus store, probably including the one that ended up on the flagpole."  
  
Jodi's eyes narrowed at Mac, taking a few seconds longer to put that to her question. But the woman's eyes looked back at the jacket with a new emotion behind them. It was like seeing a baby's hand print years later or a picture from high school days. She took it and put her fingers on it, smiling weakly and shaking her head with confusion. "He had it all this time?"  
  
Mac nodded.  
  
Jodi winced. "How did he get his hands on it?"  
  
"You said you burned it in a barbecue. The skirt was reported to have a burn hole."  
  
Jodi's eyes died to a sigh at that. She brought the jacket to her face and winced in it.  
  
Mac's voice was soft, "You didn't want to get out, did you?"  
  
Jodi lowered the jacket from her face, looking at it in her hands, and pursed her lips to avoid an answer. She swallowed hard and handed it back without meeting Mac's eyes.  
  
Mac closed the trunk with one hand and took the jacket from her with the other. She followed Jodi back up to the porch with it, twisted the wire hanger hook ninety degrees, and hung it on the vine trellis.  
  
Jodi sat back in her chair and found herself staring it at it again. She snickered weakly and closed her eyes.  
  
Mac sat quietly, glancing to the sound of a car to see if it was the police. It wasn't.  
  
"Y'know, if you follow the male side of the family tree, I'm the first female in seven generations." She lit another cigarette and shrugged. "Probably more but we don't have any records before the Trail of Tears."  
  
Mac smiled at that. "Cherokee?" The woman's had gray streaks in her short blonde hair and was as white as Irish.  
  
Jodi grinned over, "Yeah, don't I look it?" She bobbed a hand over her mouth and let out a soft Indian call.  
  
Mac snickered softly and dropped her eyes.  
  
When her grin calmed, Jodi continued quietly, "My great grandfather was in WWII, my grandfather was in Korea, my dad and three uncle's in Viet Nam. So, when my brother died, I had a lot of very big shoes to fill." She huffed weakly. "Boy, did I fuck that up from every possible direction." She sighed heavily.  
  
Mac folded her lips together and took all this in. Mostly, she was just here to keep the woman from wandering off before the police arrived, but part of her just wanted to be a friendly ear. Mac knew what it was like to be stalked.  
  
"Do you have any kids?" Jodi asked casually.  
  
"No." Mac shook her head. "I'm not married."  
  
Jodi nodded. "Good for you. Don't."  
  
"Are you seeing anybody?" Mac was more curious about the current risks than her love life.  
  
Jodi shook her head and sat up as if she was growing more alert to Wallis on the loose. "No, I sorta gave up on all that after my divorce." She reached away to flick the ashes from her cigarette. "I haven't had a date in four years."  
  
"Is there anyone at school who might have interest in you?"  
  
Jodi shook her head again, "Naw, most of the kids at school think I'm gay. I don't bother to correct them." She snickered pathetically.  
  
Mac grinned at that.  
  
"Wallis knows where I live. He knows my phone number. He probably knows where Gary goes to school and where I go to school. if he's here to stalk me, why haven't I seen him?" She shook her head and looked at Mac.  
  
Mac lifted her chin. "I don't know." She sat up and leaned back on the bench. "Maybe-"  
  
"Ho! Would you look at that!" Steve came out front with Joe at his heals. Skyler ran out between their legs and went strait for the tricycle. Harm strolled out behind them with a defeated smile.  
  
Steve sang it again as he stepped to the jacket and straightened it on the hanger. "Would you look at that?"  
  
Joe squinted at the coincidental rank insignia and size, "Is that yours?"  
  
Gary ran out of the house to join Skyler on a scooter.  
  
Harm glanced for the police, but stayed back in the corner with his arms folded at his chest. Jodi was sitting on the bench, frumped and defeated, watching the old salts looked over the jacket. There was a soft glow in Mac's eyes at the sailors that tried to talk Jodi into putting it back on. Jodi flapped her hand at them, "It didn't fit me when I took it off, why do you think it's gonna fit me ten years later?"  
  
"Awe come on.."  
  
Harm watched Sarah's soft smile grow during the conversation and her eyes sparkle at the dirty old men with their foul language and child hood faces. She added her vote to Jodi as well, 'just one more time.' As Jodi got up with reluctance, Sarah's eyes found him and paused, realizing he'd been watching her.  
  
He watched her mouth close and her breath quiver carefully in her chest as she stared back at him. She wasn't mad and she wasn't glittering. Her shoulders straitened a little to face this bravely but her eyes looked just as nervous and scared as his probably did. Dreams didn't stick to your ribs like this.  
  
I made love to you last night.  
  
Some one whistled loudly and Steve waved a hand in the air to break their stare down. "Youuu hooooo!"  
  
"Get a room!" Joe yelled at them. Steve started laughing as the man continued to grumble obscenities.  
  
Harm blinked and shook out of the stare and Mac ducked to inhale sharply, but they both recovered a split second later to find that Jodi had donned the jacket over her T-shirt. Jodi stood stiffly, shoulders too far forward and eyes hard on nothing in front of her like she was afraid to sink into the thing.  
  
Harm could imagine her in the rest of the uniform and smiled a nod. "It looks good on you." Mac smiled knowingly at Jodi's expression.  
  
Steve and Joe stood on either side of her, tapping her back to get her to stand up strait and commenting quietly on what a shame it was that she got out.  
  
Jodi's hand came up to the shoulder. Her eyes closed to touch the crow on her arm, feeling the fabric like she was hugging a piece of her.  
  
"She would've made a good chief." Steve grinned at Joe. "Don't you think she would've made a good chief?"  
  
"She would've made an excellent chief," Joe agreed.  
  
That was the last straw. Jodi straightened her shoulders and raised her eyes, only by coincidence aiming her stand of attention at Harm, and pressed her mouth to start ripping the buttons free again. She pealed it off her shoulders and tossed it to her father, dashing into the house before either of them could say any more.  
  
Steve sucked a noise through his teeth and sighed, retrieving the hanger so he could put the jacket back. Joe looked out to the street to check on the boys but straitened to find two police cars pulling up to park on the other side of the street. Mac climbed off the bench and exchanged glances with Harm for the plan. She moved to intercept the police. Harm explained it to the Senior Chiefs and easily talked them into taking the boys out for ice cream.  
  
As the young and old Young boys drove away, a gathering of officers and investigators approached the house. Harm and Mac insisted to see the warrant before letting them in and shared the new evidence with them afterwards. As the new group moved into the living room, talking, planning, and already nosing around, Jodi came out of her room with a careful sigh and brave shoulders.  
  
She stepped to the living room where Harm and Mac were sharing information with the investigator, but her eyes dashed back and forth to the officers methodically snooping around. She listened to their conversation, clearly soaking in the details with stiff sighs, and nodded quietly her answers to the investigator's questions. The Commander was arguing with the cop again about how she was in danger until Wallis was found and the investigator insisted that the only real protection he could offer was to simply lock her up.  
  
The commander interrupted his defenses. "Until you have enough to arrest her, my client is not going to be separated from her children."  
  
The investigator echoed it the same time Jodi did. "Client?"  
  
Harm pointed an index finger at Jodi's nose. "No talking."  
  
Jodi blinked dramatically.  
  
"Jack?" An officer stepped out of Jodi's bedroom with a lock box for a hand gun. "It's a key lock."  
  
Jack looked to see and aimed his shoulders at Jodi. "Where's the key?"  
  
Jodi closed her eyes and muttered, "ffffffuck."  
  
Harm and Mac exchanged wide eyed glances and motioned her back to a corner of the room. Harm lowered his voice to a tight teeth mutter and angled over her like a vulture. "You told us you didn't have a gun."  
  
Jodi's eyes flicked up to him with the same tight teeth mutter. "I also don't have a boyfriend." She pulled her keys out of her pocket and handed the lock-box's key to Mac. "Can you get away with doing the honors privately?"  
  
Harm blinked, winced, and turned away quickly. Mac took the key, sighed deep and quick, and motioned for the only female police officer present to follow her.  
  
As Mac took the box with a hard look at the investigator, Jodi combed stiff fingers into her bangs. "Respectfully request permission to pollute my lungs?"  
  
Harm put his hands on his hips and smirked his eyes shut at the wall. "Granted." He only followed her out because he had to, but he stayed next to the door, leaning a shoulder against the stucco wall and looking out to the walk so the woman could keep some of her dignity. and to keep him from ducking a blushing grin.  
  
Mac came out a minute later and tried to keep the tight grin off her face. "It's all taken care of." She handed back her keys and stood at the trellis, looking through it to the yard.  
  
"Thank you." Jodi muttered, but was chuckling weakly about it already. She sat back in the chair and sighed a smile at how insane this all was, letting the air rest to a gentle silence. Each of the three swam in individual thoughts for a full minute.  
  
"Client?" Jodi suddenly spat, looking at Harm like he'd lost his mind. She shook her head at a complete loss for words and her hands came into the air trying to figure out how two and two made three.  
  
Mac swiveled on her heals and smiled down at them, letting Harm take the rap for it. Harm rolled his head with a shy grin at the yard.  
  
"At what point did I become a client?" Jodi's brows did the strangest, sideways S when she searched them for an answer. "Is this where my taxes go? Defending people who aren't in the service and haven't been arrested?"  
  
Harm licked his grin and pealed off the wall. "We haven't found Wallis yet," he pointed out carefully. "Until we do, the police are going to think you had something to do with his disappearance. We're just protecting your interests until that happens."  
  
Jodi folded her arms at her chest and raised her chin to him. "To what end?" His eyes flicked up and she shrugged. "What if you never find him? Then what?"  
  
"We've been given a couple of days to straiten things out as best we can," Mac explained.  
  
"Hmph," Jodi said, thinking on this. "So you're staying the weekend."  
  
Harm rose a brow at her and a smile grew in his voice, "I fought hard to get permission to stay here and help you. The least you could do is pretend to appreciate it."  
  
Jodi leaned back to raise a brow at his outburst and studying him in at a total loss why he would request such a thing. Her head angled away before eyes did, and her brows rippled before landing on Mac. She winced like she was afraid of his insanity and flicked her head to the Commander. Her voice was high pitched nervous and quiet. "Is he always like this?"  
  
Mac flattened her mouth until her lips folded over on each other, raised her chin with a nod and let out a loud, clear, "Yeah."  
  
Jodi nodded with dramatic understanding in her expression, and flicked a grinning eye back to Harm, just to tease him about it.  
  
Harm sighed and turned to stroll back to his wall.  
  
"I don't need a lawyer," Jodi said casually, but her tone had fallen closer to seriousness. "I need a gun maybe. a college degree, a decent job and some child support but," she shook her head. "I didn't kill him. And if for some reason when you find him, it looks like I did," she rose her brows at them and shook her head, "you guys ain't gonna be able to save me anyway."  
  
Harm's eyes stayed in the air of the front yard. His voice was quiet and cautious. "It must be hard going through life without trusting anybody, Petty Officer Young."  
  
Jodi's eyes darkened with her tone, "Well, sir, when you've been screwed as often as I have you learn to stop bending over."  
  
His eyes flicked, displeased.  
  
She winced before she even saw it. "I'm sorry." She stood and took a deep breath as she strolled to the other end of the porch. "Really. I'm sorry. I do appreciate you guys putting out the effort," she winced at them honestly. "But I really don't think there's anything you can do for me."  
  
Mac raised her chin. "We can find Wallis for you."  
  
Jodi met her eyes a long moment, pressed her mouth with more apologies and nodded. She sighed it out, "Okay," then blinked a weak grin to correct herself, "Yes, ma'am." She was suddenly uncomfortable again. "Look I'm gonna." she pointed shyly to the door as she approached it, "visit the head. Um.." she paused at Harm but couldn't say anything, and stepped into the house.  
  
"Whew," Harm blew at the woman's ever-thick skin, still displeased. "It's a wonder how she made it through boot."  
  
"She wasn't like this in boot," Mac pointed out. "This grew on her while she was getting out."  
  
Harm sighed quietly at that, but soon snuck a glance over at Mac. He yanked his eyes away again before she looked up. It took work to push the words from his throat. "We should talk before you leave."  
  
She was already shaking her head. "No." She moved to the door behind him and gave him a quiet order. "Not in uniform." She stepped in and closed the door behind her.  
  
Harm closed his eyes. Why did this hurt so badly?  
  
The door opened again and the noise level inside had raised. The Jack Reiner marched out first, then Mac as she handed Harm his cover, then Jodi. "Let me go, please."  
  
"They found a body," Mac muttered to him, putting on her cover and looking back at Jodi with a sigh.  
  
Harm put his cover on. Another officer moved around them and trotted to the street.  
  
"Please," Jodi pleaded, "at least give me the satisfaction of seeing the bastard dead."  
  
Harm shook his head, "I don't think that's a good idea." He turned and started marched down the walk. Mac let her hard glance hang on Jodi a moment and turned to follow him.  
  
Jodi followed them out. "You need somebody to identify him anyway, don't you?"  
  
Harm unlocked the rental and yanked open the driver's door. "We have a picture."  
  
Mac turned to her with a sigh. "We'll let you know."  
  
Harm hit the auto-unlock and Mac pulled open the door.  
  
Jodi snarled for a moment and twitched a fit when the car started, and yanked open back door. She jumped into the back seat and slammed the door shut, sliding to the middle, setting her elbows on their seats, and ducking their head between them. "Put me on report."  
  
Harm dropped his head back and Mac dropped hers forward.  
  
She whined defense at them. "It's not like I haven't seen dead bodies before. And you can hog tie me to make sure I don't mess with any evidence."  
  
Harm rolled his head toward her with a wince, "You said you never saw any action."  
  
Mac rose her head, "And funerals don't count."  
  
Jodi rose her brow at Harm, "You don't have to go to war to see action, Commander. I was the one to find my little brother with a gun in his hand and his brains all over the wall. At least Wallis isn't somebody I care about."  
  
Harm rolled his head away and sat up again. One of the police cars was starting to pull away. He glanced at Mac. Mac glanced at him and pulled over her seat belt.  
  
Harm thumbed behind him and leaned to put in gear. "Put your seat belt on."  
  
Jodi disappeared into the back seat as ordered.  
  
They didn't realize how close Jodi's house was to the edge of town until they turned the corner to find themselves surrounded by orchards and farms. They only drove a few long blocks out of town before finding a collection of cop cars and a CSI van on the side of a cornfield. The corn field was half mowed and the massive Caterpillar had stopped in the middle of a strip. The thing's blades were taller than the people standing next to it.  
  
Harm slowed the car to a stop on the side, and the three looked at the gathering of officers and investigators looking around in front of the tractor. "Oh no." Harm muttered. He sighed and looked back to Jodi, "This is not going to be pretty."  
  
Jodi sighed a thought and nodded agreement, but her voice was casual. "Probably not, sir."  
  
Harm let out the brake and turned the wheel to get back onto the road.  
  
Mac glanced over.  
  
Jodi winced and dropped her head to the back, giving up.  
  
"I'm going to pick up the picture we've got first." Harm told them. "If I can't identify him from the picture, then you can look."  
  
Jodi lifted her head with raised brows. Her tone thanked him. "Fair enough."  
  
They were all silent for several blocks before Jodi's voice peaked up again. "You know what I'm thinking? I'm thinking that there tractor prolly fucked up every piece of evidence that proved I didn't do it, huh?"  
  
Mac's eyes moved back and forth in the air before moving back to Jodi.  
  
Jodi dropped her head against the back seat and put her fists in her eyes with a groan. "Awe man."  
  
Harm glanced at Mac about the truth of her revelation and acceptance that it could have been a part of the plan. He glanced in the rear view mirror at the woman. She was certainly putting on a good show of worry over it.  
  
Harm's phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to Mac.  
  
"Mackenzie, Rabb's phone." She answered. She smiled a little. "Hi, Bud. No, he's driving right now." She glanced at Harm and her tone stiffened with consideration. "Return tickets. eh." she sighed again.  
  
Harm's eyes went to her. He started to speak, winced to regret that Jodi was with them, and looked at her with wider eyes. He shook his head.  
  
Mac watched his face as she listened to Bud. She wasn't sure if she should.  
  
Stay. He mouthed at her and widened his eyes more. Talk.  
  
"We need tickets that'll get us home Sunday night. yeah, that'll be fine. Tell the Admiral that they just found a body, but we're still in the process of identifying it.. yes. hang on." She handed back the phone as Harm pulled up in the valet lane.  
  
He grabbed it and she hopped out of the car.  
  
"Hi Bud, how are things?" he sat back in his seat to comfortably wait and chuckled, "Yeah well get a kitchen pass for next weekend. I owe you a beer." Harm shook his head. "Just trust me." He lifted his head with a rise of curiosity, "Hey, I've got a question for you. If I wanted to gundeck an online service record, how would I do it?"  
  
Jodi only half listened to the conversation. She gazed out the window and swam in her own mess of problems. The Commander was still saying, 'Yeah' and 'uh huh' when the Colonel returned with a handful of files, obvious service records included, and climbed back into the car.  
  
Harm was already getting off the phone when he saw her and hung up by the time she put on her seat belt. He drove away.  
  
Jodi sat forward to peak over Mac's shoulder. "Can I see the picture?"  
  
Mac flipped through until she found it an 8 x 10 mug shot looking picture and handed it back. Jodi hung over the seat to look at it. A dozen emotions waned in her face but none of them were strong or clear. She sighed and handed it back, sitting back to put her seat belt back on. "I still can't believe he fucking made Chief."  
  
Harm spat without looking back at her, "Can you please say something positive about the Navy?"  
  
Jodi chuckled quietly, "My emotional defense over your presence bothering you that much, Commander?"  
  
He tilted his head. He was more sarcastic than offended. "After I sacrificed my weekend to help you? Yes."  
  
She hugged herself as she stared out the window. "Something positive, huh?" Her voice was bittersweet. "You mean like. watching a family of killer whales jump out of the water trying to get away from the ship? Or getting to pretend I was hysterical during General Quarters drill? Or gambling over the perfect spot on the bow so that, after six months at sea, the first look of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco sunshine would be just perfect."  
  
Harm grinned and dropped his chin.  
  
"Do you have any on shore?" Mac challenged gently.  
  
Jodi sucked in a sigh through her nose. "First time I ever saw falling snow was on rover watch in the middle of the night in Great Lakes. First time I got drunk legally was line dancing in an E-Club in Yokosuka. First time I fell in love was with a PN3 while watching the sunrise on the lake shore in Orlando.. " She chuckled weakly at herself and lifted her voice lighter. "You mean like that?"  
  
Harm was touched. "Yes, that's what I mean."  
  
"I was a brat, then active, then a wife for a while. Two thirds of my life was Navy, y'know?" She shrugged. "Wasn't all bad. Just ended bad."  
  
Mac turned in her seat to squint back at her. "Can I ask you a personal question?"  
  
Jodi nodded. "Sure."  
  
"Why are you fighting so hard about getting back in?"  
  
Jodi looked out the window again. "There are plenty of people around who can put their country first. But I'm the only one on the planet who's willing to put my children first." She shrugged at her. "They can't both be first."  
  
Harm looked out to see the corn field come into view again. His tone was all knowing. "You could make it work."  
  
"Look," Jodi grinned, pulling off her seat belt and leaning on their chairs to see. "I've finally gotten my ass into college and I am loving teaching these kids. So, you defend the Constitution and, as soon as I finish my degree, I'll make sure up and coming generations can read the damn thing. Deal?"  
  
Harm put on his cover and glanced back with a wide smile. "Deal." He opened the door, took the picture from Mac, and climbed out. Mac stayed behind with Jodi, watching him walk carefully to the scene of the crime.  
  
"You know," Mac grinned, "You don't sound like an English major."  
  
Jodi smiled without looking at her. "Well, sometimes you guys don't sound like lawyers, either." She squinted in confusion and motioned to where Harm had moved off to. "Are you guys going together or something?" She said it like the idea was nuts.  
  
Mac smiled and blinked before it showed in her face. Her voice was wise. "We've just been working together a long time."  
  
"'Don't go there', huh?" Jodi nodded back out the window and put a southern drawl to it. "Yez, mayam."  
  
They watched Harm finish his conversation with CSI and pull out a handkerchief before stepping to the tractor. He put the cloth in front of his mouth and stopped ten feet away from what CSI was working with. He shook his head gently at it, not even pulling the picture to his eyes to compare the faces.  
  
After a long pause, Harm turned to march back to the car. He stuffed the hanky back into his pocket in a wad and the face he uncovered was unpleasant.  
  
Jodi rolled down the window and flicked a chin in question.  
  
He came up, threw the picture into the car, and set his hands on the sill, locking his elbows. He glanced at Mac. "Did Wallis have any tattoos?"  
  
As Mac nodded, and Jodi nodded.  
  
"A bull's head." Jodi said before Mac could look it up and verify memory. "On his calf. Purple bull, yellow horns."  
  
"Which leg?"  
  
Jodi had to think. "The right." She motioned to her leg. "On the side. Somewhere around here."  
  
Harm looked to Mac. Mac nodded, it sounded correct based on what she'd read.  
  
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Harm sighed and looked hard at Jodi. "It's going to give you nightmares," he warned respectfully.  
  
Jodi opened the door he was leaning on. "I already have nightmares." She stepped out of the car.  
  
Mac looked at him as he reluctantly let the woman out and closed the car door behind Jodi. He gave her his hanky and was muttering orders to her as he led the way over a predefined path to the site. She was looking for it before it even came into view and slowed dramatically when she started seeing it. Harm pulled her over by the shoulder and pointed with a question.  
  
Jodi winced and nodded.  
  
Mac sighed and pulled her eyes to watch something else. She saw horses in a field, ripe corn, and an old farm house. Stay and talk? She didn't want to open this up any more than it had to go. It was a mistake. Maybe all she had to do was admit that.  
  
The truth was, Mac was scared of him. Not scared like she was afraid he was going to hit her or like she was afraid what he was going to do. It was scary because she could predict him. She knew right when to look away before she fell into his eyes. She knew exactly when it was time to throw up an old fight before the laughter got too loud. She knew how to jab a comment at him when he was getting too close, and she knew precisely how he would react to all of it.  
  
But this was new. This was supposed to be about sex. A pure, office- shunned, erotic fantasy visited only for one night. Even if it wasn't about sex, why did it feel like they were breaking up over it? Harm was a control freak.. Why wasn't it all under control?  
  
Mac didn't like not knowing how to predict him. It meant she was at risk. If she didn't look away, jab a comment, start a fight. he'd fly right under her radar and break her heart.  
  
Mac closed her eyes. Why did this hurt so badly?  
  
She inhaled sharply and yanked her eyes open before it fell into a depressing digression. She glanced over to see if they were coming back yet. Harm was on his way to the car alone with a worse expression than before, and behind him, the police were putting handcuffs on Jodi.  
  
Mac's eyes flashed. She climbed out and to hear him over the car's roof.  
  
He motioned. "Get in," and climbed back in with adrenaline with her. He shot the car into gear and explained. "He was killed there almost a week ago and there are other blood fluids on him."  
  
Mac knew what that meant. "Female?"  
  
Harm waited for the cop car to haul Jodi away and shrugged deliberately, "We'll see."  
  
Jodi glanced back at them from the back seat of a police car, seeing clearly that they were waiting to follow, grinned a weak thank you, and settled in for the ride.  
  
Mac pulled out her phone. "I'm calling her father."  
  
The old salt took the news quietly and quickly got down to business about what needed to be done next with the children. Harm scoped the station to grope through setting up bail. Mac moved through the booking as much as they would let her. She could see that her simple presence was helping Jodi take the undignified treatment like a soldier. Every time Jodi's darkened eyes glanced over at her, the woman straitened her shoulders and stood tall, answering questions with a clear quiet voice and cooperating with every instruction.  
  
As soon as Jodi marched out of her reach and into holding, Mac slipped through the station to find Harm. He was gritting his teeth and looking around the big office and busy halls. He saw her and turned to find a quiet corner in which to make a plan.  
  
"Forensics?" Mac asked with mutter.  
  
"Monday." He said, still looking around with disapproval.  
  
Mac nodded and glanced around too. "Bail?"  
  
Harm shook his head. "Tomorrow, they think."  
  
Mac's brows rose at that.  
  
"Homicide," Harm pointed out.  
  
She blew a sigh through loose lips. "They're going to want our files."  
  
Harm nodded, "Already asked for them."  
  
She shook her head and glanced up from under her brows, sympathetic and gentle to him. "We're done here, Harm."  
  
Harm gritted his teeth with a wince.  
  
"Whether we like it or not," she said.  
  
He pulled his lips in and ducked a hard glare on the sights of the station. He didn't look at her before turning toward the door. "Bud's getting tickets for Sunday already."  
  
Mac slid on her cover to follow him out the front door. Her voice was stiff as she pointed out, "Bud can change the tickets."  
  
Harm swung his arms as he marched to the car, visibly ignoring her.  
  
Mac rippled her mouth and flicked back her hair, visibly ignoring him. She climbed into the car the same time he did and pulled out her phone.  
  
"Hi Tiner? It's Colonel Mackenzie. Is the Admiral available?" She smiled so her voice would smile. "Then can you give him a message for me?.. yeah. Okay. Wallis' body was found and Young's arrested.. Got that?" Her smile faded and her brows rippled. "Jodi. Why?" She breathed a grin, "Well, Tiner, she may be but I don't think she's available for reunions at the moment." She chuckled at little.  
  
Harm glanced at that, and then whispered over a question. "How does Tiner know her? Where were they stationed together?"  
  
Mac caught the question as she listened. "Yeah, Tiner? Ah, if it is the same woman, how do you know Jodi Young?"  
  
Harm glanced over to read her expression as she nodded and listened for several minutes, but he couldn't tell what the results were. Mac thanked Tiner and hung up. "NTC Orlando," she answered. "Long before the Wallis incident."  
  
Harm flattened disappointment from his mouth. He parked at the hotel and climbed out quickly. The marched together, but miles apart, all the way up to the rooms, and were instantly gathering files and evidence and taking one last glance at this or that before sliding it into a briefcase.  
  
Mac moved to the other room and got on the phone with Bud to change her reservations for today.  
  
Harm glanced up from the service record in his hand and looked at her cold shoulder through the doors. She was too casual, too uppity about it. She shook her head, "No, Bud. The Commander will call you on his own when he's ready. Thank you." She hung up.  
  
She sent a hard glance at him as she put her phone down. It was a glance that said, 'Deal with it.' She turned her back to him and pulled her suitcase to the bed.  
  
Harm stiffened, raised the service record over his head, and threw it violently across the room. It crashed on the headboard and the attached pages fanned out like a spilling skirt. He was already regretting that and turned away. He set his hands on his hips and wrinkled his whole face into a tight knot.  
  
Mac's eyes widened when she heard it. She stepped back to the door, seeing his back, and fumbled for an understanding. She didn't predict that. She didn't quite understand what drove it. She scrambled for a response. "There's nothing more we can do here." She waved a hand in the air. "You can't do anything a court-appointed couldn't do over bail. and the forensics are going to take too long-"  
  
Harm spun around with a red forehead, angry eyes, and a pained snarl on his upper lip. "At least I'm trying to do something!"  
  
Mac dropped her hand to her side. Was this a pissing contest over integrity? Her head tilted with a glare. Give me a break.  
  
He whipped a pointed finger in the air several times, growling at the top of his lungs. "I'm not going to jump in and give her hope only to jump out again when it gets difficult!"  
  
Mac lifted her palms with a shrug. "Hope for what, Harm?"  
  
He heaved air through his nose for a long moment, staring hard at her like she'd just stabbed him in the stomach. He wasn't talking about the case.  
  
Mac saw it in his eyes again, but they were in uniform. She folded her lips closed and dropped her eyes.  
  
Finally he turned away and looking up at the ceiling. His voice was intensely quiet, "Hope for the impossible."  
  
Mac's eyes flicked to keep searching for what to do and found where the file crashed on his bed.  
  
Mac swallowed and fought a tear of guilt and tried to apologize, "Harm-"  
  
"Just go back to Washington," he muttered.  
  
Her eyes moved to his back. Her breath quivered in her throat.  
  
He turned around with impatience in his moves. "Go back to Washington." He didn't look down at her when he turned her around by the shoulders. "Just go." He pushed her through the joining doors and stopped at the barrier.  
  
She turned to look back at him, "Harm-?"  
  
He closed the door in her face.  
  
Mac stepped back away from the door and bumped into her bed. She wavered on her feet and sat down on the bed next to her suitcase. She inhaled sharply, straightening her shoulders to face this.  
  
And she realized she just lost her best friend.  
  
Her expression fell apart and her shoulders melted again. She put a palm over her eyes to stop it, but it wasn't long before silent tears were seeping between her fingers anyway.  
Harm threw the briefcase into the passenger's seat and climbed into the driver's seat. He threw it in gear with gritted teeth and squealed out of the stall with a hard brow. It wasn't road rage, he told himself. He had full control of his physical actions. It was the vehicle that couldn't handle it.  
  
He gripped the wheel to drive back to the police station, staring hard at the cars around him and the red lights that made him pause. Long before he got to the station though, he yanked onto a residential road and pulled over.  
  
He put his elbow on the sill and rested his fingers delicately on his forehead. His mouth wasn't taught anymore and his eyes were closed gently. What the hell is the matter with me?  
  
He peaked up over the back of his hand and looked out the window at nothing. He controlled his breathing and calmed himself down and tried to face the issue so he could yank it back under control.  
  
Mac's intent last night was simply to quench years of curiosity. Had they been true shipmates and real friends, it probably would have worked. But she snuck under his radar by accident. She grabbed him by the soul, yanked him over the edge, and left.  
  
She left the room as if it hadn't phased her a bit. She left for home after he told her to stay and talk. She left him hanging alone at the edge of a terrifying abyss, and didn't realize she was stepping on his fingers. He could imagine the confused curl of her brow as she stepped to the edge and looked over. What are you doing down there, Harm? She shook her head and laughed at him as she walked away. Stop playing around, silly. Get over it and get back to work.  
  
Mac! Wait! His voice echoed in the empty silence. Don't leave me here!  
  
His eyes closed again. His chest started to hurt.  
  
Mac?  
  
He hid back under his fingers and his lashes got wet.  
  
Sarah.  
  
His face slowly winced and his lungs began to shake. And he realized that he was mentally fumbling for a rip cord that simply wasn't there. All he found was his own chest trying to cry underneath the rock hard control of his shoulders. All he heard was his own scream of panic as he fell like a stone into salt water.. that dark, giant, empty, freezing, churning ocean.  
  
Harm forced air into his lungs and yanked his eyes back up to see the same nothing out the window.  
  
Panic. That's what it was. And the last thing you should do when you know you're going down. is panic.  
  
He sniffed hard and breathed through his mouth.  
  
Now, he knew what to do with it.  
  
It was good she was leaving today, he decided. It would give him a chance to find a place to put this.  
  
And, maybe, give her a chance to realize why he needed to.  
  
With a quick swipe of his palm, he rubbed the wet from one eye and put his hands back on the wheel. Mentally though, he ripped the mask from his face, grabbed the stick again, and started looking for a soft place to crash.  
Mac had way too much time to think.  
  
It was an hour in the cab to get from the farm city to the airport. It was an hour before the plane left. It was a seven hour flight with the weather- slowed stop in Denver. It felt like an hour before all the people in front of her got out of the plane. It felt like an eternity before he suitcase came out of the turntable. She marched with relief that the trip was over until the charcoal sky and hard rain came into view through the giant glass walls of Dulles. And when she saw the resulting mile-long line for a taxi, she was ready to about face back to nearest the airport pub.  
  
Mac was pretty damned proud when she finally made it home without having a drink, but by this time, all her thoughts had spun her up into a fury. She started to unpack her clothes and ended up throwing them at the hamper without aiming. She changed into her civvies, but that only urged her to go out again, and before she knew it, she was stuffing on her hiking boots and throwing on a raincoat. She put her keys in one pocket, her wallet in the other, and moved to the coat rack again to grab a scarf.  
  
Her eyes fell on a framed 5x7 on the short bookshelf among a dozen other sundry pictures. Someone had caught them sitting together at one of little A.J.'s birthday parties. Mac looked over his shoulder at some toy he was trying to figure out, and somebody had just said a joke, causing them both to look up to the source with love and laughter in their eyes. It was an accident, but the picture turned out beautifully. And, as the pictures did the rounds at the office, everybody joked for months about how they looked so very married.  
  
For as long as the teasing last, Harm winced away from the ludicrous idea like she was his sister and they fought like cats and dogs about everything else until everyone shut up.  
  
Mac flicked her hair from her face, pulled her mouth to a tight knot, and looked into the air for posture to quickly buttoned up her jacket. Then, she reached blindly and deftly for the picture and slammed it face down until the glass cracked. Grabbing her keys from her pocket, she marched out the door to the first waterhole that came to mind.  
  
If there was any such thing as justification for falling off the wagon, losing Harmon Rabb over a stupid mistake was it.  
There was nothing they would let him do unless he signed on as her attorney and they weren't going to assign a court-appointed until they were ready to set bail. They took his files with what seemed like a half-hearted promise to return them after the trial and they were more interested in closing down their offices for the weekend than worrying about an innocent single mother rotting in holding. They wouldn't even let Harm see her.  
  
Defeated about Young and worried about Mac, he picked up dinner out of a drive-thru and forced himself to eat at least half of the salad, no matter how nasty it was. Then he picked up a six pack of beer and package of cheap cigars. He sat at the table in his room for hours listening to old songs on the dingy radio and watching out the window at the endless supply of semi trucks moan down the freeway.  
  
And I can't really tell yeah what I'm gonna do. There are so many thoughts in my head. There are two roads to walk down and one road to choose. So I'm thinking over the things that you've said  
  
Harm pressed his mouth to a frown, sighed out his nose, and thoughtfully started pealing the label from the brown bottle in his hand.  
  
From some hidden corner of the dark hotel room, his cell phone twiddled.  
  
Harm let it ring twice before he decided to answer it. He stood and moved to find where it had fallen, and managed to answer it before it went to voicemail. "Ra-" his voice cracked. He cleared his throat. "Rabb."  
  
"I am sick and tired of being your sister," she had that evil, vindictive, warpath in her tone, even if she was trying to keep her voice quiet.  
  
Harm wandered slowly back to the table and collapsed in the chair. "You're not my sister."  
  
"You treat me like a sister," she spat and took a slurp of something.  
  
Harm's hid his eyes with his fingers. "Where are you?"  
  
"The next time I'm invited to the Rabb's Leftovers Luncheon and have to sit there listen to all your exes compare notes, at least now I will have something to contribute."  
  
Harm swallowed hard. His voice was beaten, "Mac, where are you?"  
  
"I'm in Vir-gin-ia," she hissed. "And believe me it's a lot easier to talk to you when your two thousand god damned fucking miles away. Thank you for sending me home."  
  
Harm thought hard for a moment, put down his beer and reached for the hotel phone. "Are you at Benzinger's?"  
  
"What do you care?" Her voice dipped low and quiet like a defiant teenager.  
  
"I care, Mac," he assured with a sigh. "Where are you? Let me call somebody to come and get you."  
  
"I don't want anybody to come get me, Harm. I want you to come get me." She acquiesced again. "But your not going to do that anymore, are you?"  
  
He picked up the hotel phone anyway and started dialing. "You know I would, Mac. If I were home right now I'd already be on my way."  
  
"Stop calling me Mac. My name is Sarah. S-A-R-A-H. You got that? Sarah."  
  
"Sarah?" He said carefully, "Can you hold on a minute?"  
  
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot, you should probably let her leave the room before she thinks you have a girlfriend at home."  
  
He pulled the other phone to his ear and listened to it ring. He spoke like he was dealing with a child. "Sarah. Just give me a quick minute. Don't hang up because I want to talk to you. Okay?"  
  
"Fine," she hissed.  
  
Harm put the cell phone to his stomach and spoke into the land line. "Sorry to wake you up."  
  
Sturgis' naturally deep and smooth voice was high pitched with curiosity and cracking with sleep. "What's going on?"  
  
"Mac's drunk. I think she's at Benzinger's. Can you go get her?"  
  
Sturgis flopped his head back on his pillow. "Well, where the hell are you?"  
  
"California," Harm stressed. "I think I can keep her on the phone and keep her at Benzinger's, but I need some help getting her home and into bed."  
  
"I'm on it." Sturgis rolled himself into a sit up to get out of bed.  
  
"Just a sec." Harm told him and pulled back up the cell phone. "Mac, are you still there?" There was no noise for a long moment, but he could still here the noise of the bar in the background. "Mac?" Click.  
  
He swore and put Sturgis back to his ear. "She just hung up on me."  
  
Sturgis had been patient. He was already throwing on some clothes. "What's going on, Harm?"  
  
"We got into a fight this morning and she went back early before we could talk it out." Harm said and took a swig of his beer.  
  
"You get into fights all the time." Sturgis pointed out. "What makes this one so different to make her fall into a shot glass?"  
  
Harm rubbed his eyelid with his index finger trying to figure out what and how much of what to say. It probably didn't matter how glazed he explained it, as soon as Sturgis got to Mac, she'd be blubbering enough for the man to figure it out.  
  
In his pause, Sturgis stomped on some shoes. "I'm guessing this one isn't about a case."  
  
Harm winced out a full voice. "Let me call her back and try to keep her put. I'll call you again if I get a positive location out of her other than Benzinger's. Otherwise, you call me when she's safe."  
  
"Sounds like a plan. I'll talk to you then." Sturgis was grabbing his keys when he hung up.  
  
Harm hung up that phone and rung her back on her cell with his own. He listened to it ring and waited with bated breath. It went to her voicemail. "This is Colonel Macke-"  
  
He huffed through his nose, clicked to end, pressed the redial, and put it to his ear. "This is Colonel-"  
  
He propped an elbow on the table and put his forehead in his hand. Click, press, ear. "This is C-"  
  
"Answer the phone, Mac!" He spat at the dark room.  
  
Click, press, ear.  
  
"What the fuck do you want?"  
  
He sighed with relief, but his voice was firm. "I want to talk to you."  
  
"Did you pay off your date so she'd go away?" She chuckled and slurped again.  
  
"I was calling Sturgis." He told her, hurt, even though she probably didn't mean what she said. "He's going to come take you home."  
  
"Always the big brother," she muttered, her lips drug on the receiver. "How did I get such an honor, Harm. You've been protecting me and taking care of me and keeping away all the bad people for as long as I've known you. You've bullied every man I've ever had any interest in. Hell, I'm lucky you dove into the Atlantic before my wedding. You would've showed up with a shotgun. I was going to be happy, Harm. And you had to fuck it all up by crashing your airplane."  
  
"Sarah-" he tried gently to interrupt.  
  
"I never asked for that, y'know. I never wanted you as my big brother. After all this time, it took me to knock you over the head with a baseball bat before you figured out that I was a woman."  
  
He pulled in a long breath.  
  
"Why is that, Harm?" Her slur was getting obvious now despite her alert attitude. "Am I so fucking repulsive that you couldn't even look at me in the eye the this morning?"  
  
"Mac," Harm said again, dropping his elbows to his knees and hiding his eyes in his palm. "You're-"  
  
She ignored him, "You've slept with every skirt in the Navy and you managed to work with the rest of them just fine afterward. What makes me so wrong that you can't handle it?"  
  
Tired of being chewed out, sick of being unable to get a word in, and tainted by the fifth beer, his voice rose to a commander's boom. "You know why!"  
  
She yelled into the phone, "No, I do not!"  
  
He sucked in to yell something else, but he heard the phone pulled from her ear. He sat up with fear that Sturgis heard all that. Then he glanced at the clock.  
  
Sturgis hadn't had enough time to get there.  
  
Mac started laughing in the background as someone moved the phone to a new ear.  
  
Harm almost stood up to go save her until he realized where he was again. "Hello?" He was on the offensive for whoever it was to leave Mac alone. "Who is on this phone?"  
  
Whoever it was took in a deep, patient sigh.  
  
In the background, Mac was sniggering at her new company. "You should have seen the look on your face!"  
  
Harm came to a stand, ready to go a round with the person. He maybe in California, but they didn't know that. "I don't care who this is, you'd better back off from her right now."  
  
The voice he heard was tested to capacity and tried with all his might to sound casual. And, as Rabb recognized it, the air left his lungs like he'd been kicked in the chest. "Rabb," the Admiral said, "I am going to pretend that I haven't heard the last minute of the Colonel's conversation with you. But that may not be enough to save you."  
  
Harm spun on his heals and tried to face the Admiral through the hotel window. "Admiral. Sir. I've got Sturgis on the way to come get her, sir. She called me in this condition. And I assure you, Admiral, I'm doing the best I can from where I am."  
  
The Admiral sounded displeased at that, "It's unfortunate your still in California, Harmon, because I was looking forward to personally kicking your ass."  
  
Harm combed hard fingers into his hair. "Admiral- "  
  
"I am going to hang up this phone and get the Colonel home." The Admiral was still careful. "But I can assure you that you will hear from me again tonight." Click.  
  
Harm threw the phone down on the bed and dropped back into the chair with both sets of hard fingers in his hair.  
  
Mac hung on the Admiral, still rolling with laughter at his expression, and walked with him out of Benzinger's as Sturgis drove up to the side of the street. He took a fast step out of his car but kept one hand on the wheel and one foot on the floor board. The Admiral was already moving Mac to the car and looked Sturgis in the eye.  
  
Sturgis nodded respectfully, "Good evening, sir."  
  
"Unlock it." The Admiral ordered and yanked open the passenger's door when he did. "I'll drive her car back. You follow me."  
  
Sturgis nodded again, "Yes, sir." He sat back into the driver's seat and helped pull her in as the Admiral spilled her in.  
  
Mac wasn't as drunk as they thought she was, but she was pretty smashed. She giggled at all this, how insane this was, and she appreciated that right now she was too drunk to care who knew about any of it. She hated this secret.  
  
The Admiral reached over her and pulled a seat belt on, then held out his hand in front of her. "Keys."  
  
She sniggered and dropped her head. She fumbled into her coat pocket and pulled out her keys. It took two tries of slapping them into his hand before she aimed correctly.  
  
The Admiral exchanged nods with Sturgis before shutting the door and hunting down Mac's car.  
  
Sturgis smiled at her casually. "So, how is everything, Mac?"  
  
She rolled her head to him, "He's an asshole."  
  
Sturgis knew she wasn't talking about the Admiral, though that could have been argued also, and nodded at his lap with a new smile. "Yes, sometimes, he is."  
  
She rolled her head the other way and sighed out a happy smile as if she were kicking her own butt for this. "Why do I always fall in love with assholes?"  
  
Sturgis sighed and non-chalantly dialed his phone. "I don't have an answer for you, Mac." He started driving when he saw the Admiral and pulled the phone to his ear.  
  
Harm leaped off the chair and reached for the phone. He was still leaning on the bed with one hand and a locked elbow when he answered it in a hurry, "Hello?"  
  
Sturgis chuckled. "Tell me you didn't call the Admiral."  
  
Harm rolled onto his back on the bed. "No, he just showed up while she was yelling at me."  
  
"Well, he's in her car, and she's in mine." Sturgis glanced at her. "We're on the way back to her apartment."  
  
Harm put his hand on his forehead and let his elbow stick up in the air. It high time for some career oriented damage control. "What has she been saying, Sturgis?"  
  
Sturgis voice was lawyer careful and politically casual, "My confidentiality agreement with her outdates yours, Harm."  
  
"Is that Harm?" She was suddenly awake again. She reached to grab the phone from Sturgis.  
  
"Hang on, Mac." Sturgis was going to tell her to just sit back and relax.  
  
"Let me talk to her, Sturgis." Harm said.  
  
Sturgis shook his head at both of them. "I don't think that's a good idea right now."  
  
Harm had to get through to her head to shut up. He begged the man. "Sturgis, please."  
  
Mac fumbled against the seatbelt and reached passed the man's arm for the phone. "Give me the god damned phone!"  
  
Sturgis flattened his mouth and handed her the phone. He couldn't fight both of them.  
  
She yanked the phone and put it to her ear, her face was already in shouting posture. "You're an asshole!"  
  
"Mac," he breathed and sat up. "Mac, listen to me."  
  
She huffed and quieted, a knee jerk reaction to the tone of severity in his voice.  
  
"The Admiral overheard you," he told her. "I need you to just pass out. Go to sleep. Don't say any thing else or both our careers are going to be in the toilet."  
  
She snarled drunkenly, "So what if he knows?"  
  
Harm was so frustrated it came out in a bit of a growl, "Conduct unbecoming, Colonel! We're still in the same command!"  
  
She shook her head, "It's not like your gonna be able to work with me tomorrow anyway. remember?"  
  
Harm shifted on the bed until he sat on the edge of it. "Mac, you're taking this all wrong. Now, just calm down and listen to me. I think I understand why you're mad at me, and I want to talk to you about it, but it can't be tonight-"  
  
"What do you mean, you think. You know damned well why I'm mad at you!"  
  
"Yes," he challenged and his voice softened, "but do you know why I was mad at you?"  
  
"Because I started it." She closed her eyes and squeezed her eyes shut.  
  
"It wasn't because you came over, Mac." His voice was quiet and decisive. "It was because you left."  
  
She closed her mouth and looked out the window.  
  
Harm listened to the silence and forced his voice to be gentle again. "I'm going get off the phone with you in a minute. And I'm going to catch the first flight out of here. And I'm going to come straight to you so we can talk." He listened for a moment. "Sarah?"  
  
She dropped her head back on the seat and big tears rolled down her cheeks.  
  
Sturgis parked his car in front of her building and watched her as he waited for the Admiral.  
  
"Sarah? Are you there?"  
  
The Admiral stepped up to the door and Sturgis unlocked it so he could open it. When he saw the phone, he exchanged a glance with Sturgis, but both ended up watching her.  
  
She smiled through her tears. "But what are you going to say, Harm? You've been saying the same damned thing for years. What's going to make this talk so different that it'll fix everything?" She sniffed hard and wiped her nose with the back of her hand.  
  
The Admiral pursed his lips and squatted down on the sidewalk beside the car, deliberately giving Rabb a chance to answer that.  
  
Harm thought a long moment and fell in defeat. Conduct unbecoming an officer. there wasn't much he could do without being a hypocrite. His voice was beaten. "I don't know."  
  
She squeezed new tears from her eyes and shoved the phone back to Sturgis. She rolled to get out of the car, fought with the seatbelt, and stumbled blindly into the Admiral. He gathered her in his arm until he pulled her to a stand again.  
  
Sturgis pulled the phone to his ear and ordered it gently, "I think she's finished talking to you tonight."  
  
When Harm closed his eyes, his own small tear splashed on his cheek. "Yeah," he whispered weakly, and hung up. He dropped his phone to the bed and immediately went for his suitcase. He flipped on the light and started shoving clothes in without folding them. He stuffed his uniform in his garment bag without smoothing them. And he collected what paperwork he still had without looking at them.  
  
And then he saw the five and a half empty beer bottles on the table.  
  
He paused to curse himself, shoved the files into his briefcase, and flopped down into the chair again. For a full minute, he considered driving anyway, but on a dark, drizzly night, on unfamiliar roads, in an unfamiliar vehicle for an hour long freeway drive to the airport. it had 'stupid' written all over it.  
  
Harm winced into his hand and rubbed the new water from his eyes with thumb and forefinger.  
  
She was balling into his shoulder and trying to hide in his neck all the way into the house. The Admiral moved her immediately down the hall to her own bedroom with a father's worry on his mouth. Sturgis shut the front door and moved to the bathroom to fetch a washcloth and get it nice and cold and wet. The Admiral managed to peal off her coat and get her to sit down on the bed. Sturgis came with the washcloth so they could wipe her face clean of tears and then left again to fetch a tall glass of water from the kitchen.  
  
"Sarah," the Admiral coaxed with a soft order as he squatted in front of her, "lay down and go to sleep."  
  
She didn't do it right away. Her foggy eyes focused on the man in front of her, realizing she was in her bedroom, and winced. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I'm here to make certain that you lay down and go to sleep," he pointed out.  
  
Her brows rippled again. "Admiral. I think I need a transfer."  
  
He angled his head to fight a nod. "We'll talk about that on duty. Right now, you need to get some sleep."  
  
"I can't work with him anymore." She shook her head like she didn't hear him. "I tried, sir, I really did. But I'm in love with him." She looked at him like he'd understand.  
  
He flattened his mouth and sighed during a long blink. "Yes, I know."  
  
"I can't keep pretending I don't," she said. "And after last night-"  
  
The Admiral closed his eyes and spoke quick and loud before she continued. "Colonel, lay down!"  
  
Sturgis heard enough, but pretended he didn't, and brought in the glass of water. "Mac, drink this."  
  
Mac looked at the water, looked at Sturgis, and thanked him quietly. She took it into her hands and closed her eyes to drink it.  
  
The Admiral glanced up at Sturgis, sighed and nodded thank you to him. He twisted his mouth and looked back at Mac, trying to figure out what to do with this on Monday. He'd ignored it as long as he could, and they'd managed so far, but this was getting ridiculous.  
  
He shook his head at his feet and gritted his teeth and was ready to knock the teeth right out of Rabb's face over this.  
  
Mac reached to put the water down on her side table and the Admiral held his hand out to catch it when she missed entirely. She rolled onto her side and cuddled her arms in and sniffed out slow tears.  
  
The Admiral stood on his feet and yanked the covers back to get her under them in no fewer clothes than her shoes and jacket. He tucked her in and told her to sleep and promised her that everything was going to work out someway or another. She nodded at all this, feeling safe and cozy again, and drifted quickly into a drunken sleep.  
  
The Admiral stood again, turned to Sturgis, and with a weary sigh, motioned for them both to leave the room. Sturgis obliged and moved back to the living room, ready to take the Admiral back to his own car at Benzinger's.  
  
The Admiral slowed to a stroll in the living room, put his hands on his hips and folded in his lower lip to shake his head about all this. "I want to wait a minute to make sure she doesn't get up again."  
  
Sturgis stopped near the door, squared his shoulders with patience and faced the admiral casually.  
  
"Rabb, you bastard.." The Admiral cussed and widened his eyes at Sturgis, knowing damned well they both caught on enough to have the same idea. "I didn't think he would sink so low."  
  
Sturgis winced a little. "Sir, I'm not certain that he did.. I am detecting a severe case of miscommunication."  
  
The Admiral crossed his arms at his chest at the man. "D'you have other information I should know about?"  
  
Sturgis confidently but respectfully angled his head. "With all due respect, sir, I am not at liberty to say."  
  
The Admiral flattened his mouth and nodded. "Loyalty should only be taken so far, Sturgis." He held out his hand. "Let me use your phone."  
  
Sturgis easily handed the Admiral his phone, and when the Admiral sat down on Mac's couch, Sturgis casually sat down on Mac's chair.  
  
The Admiral dialed and leaned back in the chair. His mouth pursed in the air like he was about to have somebody's hide for dinner and enjoy every last morsel.  
  
Harm heard the phone ring and sniffed hard before answering it. "Rabb."  
  
The Admiral's hiss evilly into the phone like this had become personal. "Your ass better be on the next god damn plane to apologize to this woman or I will personally come out there to strip blouses with you."  
  
Harm controlled his breathing and his voice. "With all due respect, sir, I've been drinking all afternoon and I have a rental car I need to get back to the airport, sir. I assure you I will be on the first plane out in the morning."  
  
The Admiral fought silently with this. "Did you do what I'm thinking you did?"  
  
Harm swallowed hard and closed his eyes. "Admiral, sir, I uh. in the interest of protecting the Colonel's-"  
  
"Don't give me that crap!" He leaned forward on the couch.  
  
"Admiral, sir, what your thinking might be true, but I can assure you the context is not accurate."  
  
"Oh, so you want me to think that she jumped you?!" The Admiral spat loudly.  
  
Sturgis turned away to rest his hand over his mouth.  
  
Harm stuttered a little. "Sir, it's kind of a long story. I'm not-"  
  
"Harmon," he hissed into the phone, and huffed once through his nose. "Just forget about your career for a minute. If I took this to the length I am supposed to, you're career is shot anyway. But you know what-and don't you ever repeat this-but I don't give a damn who's sleeping with who in my command as long as they can still do their job! Do I make myself clear so far?"  
  
"Yes, sir," Harm muttered.  
  
"Now, I have watched you and Mackenzie circling each other since I came aboard and I think I have a pretty good god damned idea why it's taken this long for one of you to finally crack, but if you tried to pull some kind of one night stand on her, I am going to rip off your head and shit right down your neck!"  
  
"Sir," he swallowed hard. "I think that may be the largest piece of this misunderstanding." He didn't realize it, but he sniffed loud and quick again.  
  
The Admiral heard it and rolled his eyes a little. "Excuse me?"  
  
"I fully intended to clear things up at the first opportunity, Admiral, but there was little time to talk during the day and she was in a hurry to go home. Sir, she was handling it better than I was when she left at fourteen hundred. I had hoped to finish up here and talk to her when I got home Sunday night so we'd be operable by Monday, sir."  
  
"Harmon?" The Admiral's tone raised, "May I give you a piece of advice?"  
  
"Yes, sir." It didn't matter if he wanted it or not, but he wanted it anyway.  
  
The Admiral glanced at Sturgis (who rose a brow back) and ducked his chin to insist his advice be followed. "Get your ass back here ASAP and come to Mac's apartment for this talk before you even visit your own." He brought his voice back up to insist even further. "And when you do this, you need to dig deep down into your soul and find something new to fucking say! Because she may know it all day long, Harmon," the Admiral shook his head and said it with firm and angry sincerity, "but she needs to hear it."  
  
Harm hid in his fingers again.  
  
"Do you understand me?"  
  
"Yes, sir," he whispered. "Loud and clear."  
  
"Good. Now. Here's what's going to happen next." The Admiral came to his feet. "I am going to check on her one more time and Sturgis is going to take me back to my car, and I'm going to go home. And I'm going to pretend that this was all a very bad dream." His eyes moved to Sturgis, who was raising to stand with him. "Sturgis is also going to forget a great deal of detail about this evening, and he is going to pretend it was a bad dream. But you, Harmon Rabb, are going to remember every crucial detail, because you are going to figure out how to salvage this ship between now and eight a.m. Monday morning. If there isn't at least polite conversation and a focus on your duties, I am going to drag you both into my office and hand somebody some orders bum fucked nowhere. Do you get me?"  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
"Good!" Click.  
  
The Admiral handed Sturgis back his phone. He stepped back and peaked in on her, made sure she was good and asleep, and motioned for Sturgis to leave. They could only lock the door knob, but it would be enough.  
  
The Admiral climbed into Sturgis' passenger seat and groaned as if he'd simply eaten a big dinner. "I never should have had children."  
  
Sturgis fought to keep the grin from his face. It didn't work. He powered up the car and drove off. "Yes, sir."  
The worst set of things that could have happened over this, just did.  
  
Harm let the phone fall from his hand and heard it clatter on the table. He crawled on all fours onto the incriminating bed and flopped down on his stomach. He turned his cheek into the bedspread and closed his eyes. He covered his head with an arm and just let the tears seep, calm and silent, and listened to the radio until he fell asleep.  
  
And I can't really tell yeah what I'm gonna do. There are so many thoughts in my head. There are two roads to walk down and one road to choose. So I'm thinking over the things that you've said. I'm thinking over the things that you've said. 


	5. Saturday

Saturday  
  
The twiddling noise of his cell phone yanked him awake with a quick inhale. He blinked awake, winced at the headache, and pealed out of the bed to hunt down the noise.  
  
He picked it up off the dresser and checked the caller ID, but it was local, and he rubbed his forehead when he answered it. "Rabb."  
  
"I had a feeling you'd be up," smiled the woman. He didn't recognize her voice right away, but she sounded friendly.  
  
"I wasn't." Harm swallowed his sleep away and blinked open his eyes to check the time. "Who is this?"  
  
"It's Catharine Kohlby." The woman's tone sunk into seriousness. "I've got something for you."  
  
Harm blinked a long moment from the sleep and dug out the name from his memory. The teacher. He nodded. "Mm. Go ahead."  
  
Her voice smiled like he'd gone slightly nuts. "Over the phone? You're high. Climb in your civvies and grab a pen. I'll give you directions."  
  
The apartment complex was on the far side of town and Harm used the short drive to wake himself up and shake off all thoughts of Mac so he could focus. There were a lot plants hanging in the patio and a tiny sign on the door. It had a picture of a gun barrel pointed at the viewer and a sign that said, "Forget the dog, beware of owner."  
  
Harm knocked.  
  
Catharine opened the door with a serious look on her face. Her Saturday attire was no different than her weekday attire. She let him in without a word, then closed and locked the door behind him. She turned and muttered, "She came to me at three in the morning. She's a student of mine. She heard at the school that they brought Jodi in for questioning and confronted her brother about it last night."  
  
Harm listened to this and glanced down the entry hall to the living room. "Am I the only one you called?"  
  
"So far," she said, turning to lead him to the room. "I'm still trying to talk her into coming out with the story."  
  
Harm followed her into the living room where an eighteen year old girl sat on the couch. She sat forward, staring at the coffee table. Her shoulders were bowed forward and she fiddled softly with a necklace in her fingers. She looked up as Harm walked in. Her big black eyes went wide, but she swallowed hard and sighed to calm herself down, looking back to her necklace without greeting him.  
  
Catharine stepped into her living room and sat down on the floor facing the girl. "Mayia, this is Commander Rabb." She lit a cigarette and pulled up one knee to rest her elbow on it, looking sympathetic but respectful at the teenager. "You need to tell him what you told me."  
  
Mayia looked at her professor, considering. "What about Omar?" Her English was fluent, but the accent was obvious. "Are they going to put him in jail?"  
  
Catharine sucked at her cigarette and held it in the air. She looked over her nose at the student. Her order remained standing. "You came here for advice." She motioned to Harm with her cigarette hand, "This is my advice."  
  
Mayia glanced fearfully up at the Commander and Harm slowly sat down in the chair across the coffee table from her. He set his elbows on his knees and spoke gently. "Do you know what happened to Roy Wallis?"  
  
"It wasn't my fault!" She shot out defensively. "He said his car broke down and he needed a ride. When Omar came to get me, he forced me to leave. I didn't know he was dead until I heard about the tutor."  
  
Catharine put her hand up in the air. "Mayia, slow down. Start from the beginning."  
  
Mayia swallowed and ducked her chin. She took several long breaths and tried very hard to defend her innocence and Omar's actions as she went along. "I knew Roy from school but I didn't know him that well. I don't know how he got my phone number but, Sunday afternoon, he called me up saying his car broke down. He said none of his friends were available. He seemed okay, y'know? Being in the military and all? I didn't think nothing of it. So, I went to pick him up and he was real nice. He gave me directions to go to this friend's house of his."  
  
She swallowed again like her stomach was suddenly missing and giant tears welled up in her wide-open eyes. Catharine slowly climbed to her feet and moved over to the couch next to her.  
  
"He told me to pull over and acted like he was just going to this farm house." Her stomach shook a few more times. "He said his wife wasn't talking to him and he was really depressed about it." She breathed out an open mouth. "Then he-" She coughed on her own words.  
  
Harm's eyes dropped to his hands.  
  
Mayia sank into Catharine, balling uncontrollably, and Catharine hugged the girls head. Her voice was firm and gentle. "Tell him what happened after."  
  
"He left," she whimpered. "He just walked down the street like it was no big deal." She lifted her head again. "I stayed in my car a long time. I was afraid to go home because my father will punish me if he finds out. I'm supposed to be a clean until my husband gets here from Pakistan. If I'm not, my family.."  
  
Mayia ducked her chin again, fiddling with her necklace as she hid in the teachers arm. "So I called my brother. And he came to get me. And he drove a little ways but he found him still walking on the road. Omar took him into this corn field." She sobered a little. "When Omar us drove home, he told me to save the family honor. He told me not to tell anybody and never to talk about it." She looked up again with earnest at Harm, hoping he understood. "It was an honor killing. In my culture, I would be the one who would be killed for it."  
  
Harm exchanged glanced with Catharine, and ducked his eyes to speak gently at Mayia. "Where is Omar?"  
  
Outside Catharine's apartment and sitting in his rental to watch for the police to arrive, Harm dialed the apartment, pulled his phone to his ear and prayed as he waited for her to answer.  
  
She fumbled to pick up the bed side phone and mumbled into the receiver. "Hullo?"  
  
"Hi, it's Harm," he said gently. "I was worried about you last night." His eyes grazed at the apartment complex around him for nothing. "Are you all right?"  
  
She rolled onto her back and grunted quietly. After a long moment of putting her memory together, she whined at herself, "I made it all the way home without a drink, Harm. I thought I was safe when I got here."  
  
His tried to sound supportive and friendly instead of suffering and scared to death. "So, what happened when you got home?"  
  
"I saw a picture of you," she whispered. "That one where everyone was saying we look married? You remember it?"  
  
He closed his eyes and smiled sadly. "Yeah," he whispered, "I remember."  
  
She was still blinking herself awake, but she still noticed the thick moment of silence on the phone.  
  
"It's a good picture of us," he added softly.  
  
She hitched a grin. "Well, it's broken now."  
  
He licked his lower lip and bit on it. His eyes looked out the side window, wide and pained, but his voice remained controlled and even a little light. "Maybe when I get home, I could come over and try to fix it."  
  
She started to argue about the fact that you can't fix glass, but she pulled another breath when she realized what he meant. "When are you coming home?"  
  
"Well, someone just came forward with a real suspect this time." He told her, glancing for the police again. "I hope to be checked out and headed for the airport in an hour."  
  
"You're not going to stay to make sure they release Young?"  
  
He looked out the side window again, shaking his head before he said it, "No." He formed the words only as they fell from his mouth. "I've got business at home that's more important."  
  
Mac's mouth pealed open. "No." This wasn't like him. "No, Harm, you stay as long as you need to. This'll wait until you get make it back."  
  
"With all due respect, Colonel," his voice almost squeaked and his eyes softly widened, "I'm under orders from my commanding officer to be on the next plane out."  
  
"Oh my god I wasn't dreaming." Her palm covered her face.  
  
"No, Mac," he said with severity in his voice, "you weren't dreaming."  
  
"Oh my god. Oh my god," she whispered as the rest of the evening started coming back in flash images and independent phrases. "Does he know?"  
  
"Mac, I think the best thing for you to do right now is just try to relax until I get home. Don't call anybody. Don't go anywhere. And please don't drink anymore. Just wait for me. I'll explain what happened when I get there."  
  
She whispered under her breath, "Oh dear god." More memories started coming back to her head and his carefully gentle words only supported her suspicions. "Harm, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."  
  
He fought with that a moment, opened his mouth twice before he landed on the words. "Don't apologize. I'm just as guilty."  
  
She wrapped her arm over face and hid her eyes in the crook of her elbow.  
  
"Mac?"  
  
"What?"  
  
He started to say it, but yanked it back on his tongue and replaced it with, "I'll see you soon, all right?"  
  
"'Kay." she said, and slowly knocked the phone in a blind reach to hang it up.  
  
Harm pressed the button with his thumb and closed his fingers around the phone. He pressed his mouth to the back of his hand, closed his eyes for a long blink, and opened them when he heard a car. The blue strip on the white Ford was as blatant as the lights on the roof, but they parked quietly on the other side of the street as if they were just visiting.  
  
Harm sighed himself back into business mode and pulled on the door handle.  
  
Mayia came quietly and cried all the way through her story in the interrogation room. It wasn't the rape that shook her up, it wasn't even that her brother committed murder. It was how her family was going to react to the incident. Her intended was scheduled to come fetch her in a year and take her back to Pakistan, but now that she was 'soiled', as she called it, she feared what the consequences were going to do to the honor of her family.  
  
In different room, in a different mood, Omar refused to speak without his lawyer despite the pressure from the investigators to do otherwise. And Harm realized that he was going to have to jump this ship long before the case wrapped up.  
  
He found Jack Reiner to inform him that he was recalled to Washington and asked, one last time, to see Jodi Young before he left. The investigator had more important issues at hand, with this case and several others, than to argue with the Commander, and signed off permission just to get the sailor out of his hair once and for all. Harm thought it loud and clear, but failed to mention that he was probably going to make a nuisance of himself over the phone for weeks to come.  
  
He sat at the bullet proof glass and rubbed his forehead with thumb and forefinger. He was as worried as he looked, but it wasn't about Young.  
  
"So, they finally approved your civvies chit, huh?" She was already grinning at him when she sat down.  
  
He gave her a tight smile and shifted in his chair.  
  
"Where's the Colonel?  
  
Harm angled his head, "She was recalled back to Washington." His voice dipped. "She sends her regards."  
  
Jodi nodded at that. "Well, tell her thanks for me."  
  
Harm nodded, sighed quickly and shifted in his chair again. "I've been recalled too. I came to let you know."  
  
Jodi folded her arms on the table, dropped her eyes and rubbed her lips together. The tension got so cold so fast that he could feel the air start to crystallize on the glass between them.  
  
"You going to be fine," he assured. "I can't tell you why, but I can almost guarantee it."  
  
Her head flicked up so fast at him her hair flopped back. Her eyes were hard, but her voice was casual. "Have you been paying attention to the score here, sir? Because, last time I checked, I had nobody on my team to even send up to bat. much less run around the diamond enough times to catch up with the police."  
  
Harm leaned back in his chair. "Then I guess you're going to have to let a few volunteers join your team, aren't you?"  
  
She blinked long and hard. "What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"The court will appoint you and attorney, Ms. Young."  
  
She rolled her head at that. "Puleaze."  
  
"You're going to have to trust somebody," he pointed out, "someday." He shook his head softly. "Look, I'm sorry I'm not staying but. you don't need me anyway."  
  
Her eyes were down trodden to the table as if something was sinking in. "Commander, for ten years, everything that could have possibly gone wrong in my world, has." She shrugged pathetically, almost accepting it. "I just don't see the winds changing any time soon."  
  
Harm flattened his mouth at her, only as a polite show of sympathy, but the pessimism was grating.  
  
"Look, I appreciate all you did though." She said with a weak smile. "Really, I do." She hitched a new grin. "You and the Colonel kinda make it hard to keep bad-mouthing the military, y'know?"  
  
He gave a small but genuine grin at that. At least he accomplished something. "She'll be happy to know." He sat back up to get ready to leave.  
  
"Are you all right?" Her brow flicked her tone sunk into polite concern. "You don't look so hot."  
  
He tilted his head back and forth and smiled weakly. "Didn't sleep well."  
  
She eyed him from the side like she knew something was up.  
  
He paused. His eyes widened for her accusation.  
  
"You didn't eat at that greasy spoon on Fourth Street, did you?"  
  
He flashed a smile and started to get up. "No."  
  
"Good." She said. "Don't." Then she grinned at him and waved. "Have a safe trip."  
  
He put a palm in the air to say goodbye and watched them escort her back inside before turning to leave.  
  
He flipped on the light and looked over the hotel room as if he didn't want to leave it. He tossed the key on the dresser and pulled up his suitcase again. He opened it up and pulled out the wadded clothes he'd thrown in last night. He put the pile on the side and started folding them one by one, slow and distracted, worried and monotonous. He sighed slow and stiff through his nose several times through the task, looking at what he was doing but not seeing it, and fretted with what he was going to say when he got home. to everybody.  
  
He had troubles getting one black sock to loop over another and he winced annoyed at it. It wasn't a sock.  
  
His lips parted. He put down everything else and sat down, letting his thumb brush over the black satin blindfold, and looked at it like it was the one that had betrayed him.  
  
She must've put it in his suitcase before she left. It was her way of saying she wasn't going to do it anymore. Perhaps that the ball was in his court. And, at a stretch, and invitation for him to use it on her.  
  
He shook his head at that and stood to throw it into the suitcase. After the things she said to him last night, even drunk and exaggerated, any invitation it may have meant had been rescinded anyway.  
  
It only took him twenty minutes to pack and climb into uniform. His bag hung from the same shoulder that his hand carried his laptop briefcase, and his other hand managed the garment bag, the room key, car key and hat. He never considered calling for assistance. He was used to it by now and grinned a little at how he managed it all like a champ.  
  
As he moved to the door, he glanced around to see if he'd missed anything, and his eyes landed on the bed. His eyes smiled softly at first, then to a sad glitter. He licked mouth open again as he thought over the attitudes, events, comments, arguments and personalities of the past few days. He hitched a grin and raised a brow, swiveled on his heals and banked to the door, set his hat on his head and marched right out of Sunhill, California.  
Sunday  
  
The truth was simple. There was no where else for this plane to crash.  
  
But now Harm had an educated guess that he wasn't in it alone.  
  
Even if the entire world was awake, nobody would have wondered why he had a key to Mac's apartment. Ever since she locked herself out of her car years ago, they each became each other's Keepers of the Spare Set. Nobody in the building would have wondered why he was there at this hour. They often carpooled at the oddest hours for a trip to the airport, or to the airstrip, or to dinner, or to an office party.. Even if Harm was nervous parking on the street and walking down the hall, he realized why Mac's neighbors and landlord wouldn't think twice about him being there. They believed the two were already seeing each other.  
  
The only person that wasn't expecting him at this hour, however, was Mac. He put in the key, carefully turned the bolt lock open, and prayed she didn't have the chain on the door. The door made its usually small creak when it opened a crack, and when he saw that no chain held it back, pushed it slowly open so he could step in.  
  
The sun was starting to come up and send dim rays through the drizzly overcast and pale curtains, but otherwise the living room was dark and sleepy silent.  
  
He stepped in, closed and locked the door as quietly as he could. He was already glancing back to the bedroom when he turned around and kicked his dress shoes off. He watched the door when he pulled the buttons from his jacket and pulled it from his shoulders. He closed his eyes and prayed when he ripped off his tie. He listened carefully as he slipped off the dress shirt. And he started blinking away the panic when he sat on the couch to slip off his socks.  
  
All this ended up folded neatly on the chair as he glanced down the hall again. He emptied his pockets quietly to the coffee table and straitened his undershirt. He took two steps to the hall with a bitten lip of carefulness. As he stepped, he reached into the front pocket of his black uniform slacks and slipped out the blindfold.  
  
He listened at the door and heard nothing. He turned the old knob and paused, hearing nothing. He cracked the door and peaked in, hearing more of nothing, and then opened it enough to see her.  
  
She was a long lump under the sheet and the blankets were spilled onto the floor at the foot of the bed. An unusual wave of nerves washed over him. He realized how accurate the metaphor was - waking up this particular bear out of hibernation - he would have been braver having to eject over Baghdad.  
  
He slipped into the room and closed the door behind him, trying to keep as silent as humanly possible, and tried to imagine what she felt when she'd done this in California. She must've been petrified.  
  
But this was different. He didn't come here to seduce her. He was just deliberately flying under her radar. That was the tricky thing about Mac, he thought as he stepped to the foot of the bed, he'd lost every frontal attack he could manage. It wasn't until now that he figured out how to sneak passed her defenses, and that was only because she had to demonstrate it for him.  
  
He climbed down on the bed extra slow, still in his slacks and undershirt, and settled in on his side. She was hugging a pillow. Her face was smashed into it and her chestnut hair was in her eyes. He could see the spaghetti straps of some simple wine-colored nightgown, but the sheet was tangled up around her body, preventing him from seeing anything else. He propped his head on his palm and paused to see if she'd wake up just from his approach, and when she didn't, he started to smile just to watch her sleeping.  
  
He bit his lower lip, still grinning a little, and put the blindfold across her eyes. He used the same hand to softly pull the strap around the back of her head. He pulled a few thick tufts of bangs from under the blindfold, intentionally trying to wake her up with a soft touch.  
  
Her head shifted as if reaching for it. He pulled away, gathered the pillow in his fingers, and slowly pulled it out of her arms. Her head and arms spilled down onto the bed as it slipped away. She didn't seem to notice until he'd set it out of the way behind his head.  
  
She inhaled a quick breath. but she folded her arm over and cuddled onto her elbow.  
  
Harm lowered his head to his elbow to peak in and see her. His reached for her shoulder and let his fingertips brush on her skin. His lips parted when he watched his touch slide from her arm to her shoulder. down her shoulder blade.  
  
She started to stir.  
  
.slide away the sheet from her back, down her side, and drag the sheet off of her body until it only draped her knees. Legs were cuddled over and only slightly curled up. His finger touched her knee and started drawing the same feather touch back up her thigh and over the swell of her hip.  
  
She stirred again. His eyes moved back to her face.  
  
He touched the maroon satin skirt, but slid over the fabric, not under it. Although it wouldn't take much for her to convince him, he reminded himself that he wasn't here to convince her. He was here to make a point, not make breakfast.  
  
He watched her mouth change expressions as his fingers moved up the satin, up her side and over her curled shoulder. Then he could see she was waking up and let his fingers dribble away. Even though he was close, he made certain that nothing of him touched her.  
  
She didn't lift her head, but she turned it as if she had looked around. Her long fingers came up with confusion until they found the blindfold, and she gasped in sleepy panic.  
  
Harm smiled.  
  
Her chin moved again. Her mouth opened. Her hand slid out to him as if she wasn't sure if he was going to be there. Even though Mac could smell him and sense him and hear him breathe and detect the tilt of the mattress when someone else lays on it, she still inhaled a new breath of air when her fingers found a warm, t-shirt-covered chest in her bed.  
  
Harm's smile faded with nerves as he watched the fear on her open mouth. He brought out his hand again and thoughtfully let his fingers draw new lines from her knee to her hip. She closed her mouth to soak in the feel of the touch. Her fingers splayed on his chest. Her breath quivered fearfully. "Harm?"  
  
"You're dreaming," he whispered. His palm settled snugly still on her hip but his thumb brushed back and forth with ideas of its own.  
  
She was fearfully frozen in this, just like he had been. She rose a brow all the way out of the blindfold and chuckled nervously as she shook her head, "I don't think this is going work a second time."  
  
He tucked in closer and smiled his smooth voice right onto her mouth. "It didn't work the first time."  
  
His big hand moved slowly up her body again. She started to stretch into it, but forced herself to stop. He kept touching her anyway, but only to the point of scooping her up and pulling their bodies closer together. Her head cuddled onto his arm, diving into his shoulder to hide, and her knees tangled into his, shy and secure at the same time. His arms wrapped snugly around her, but his hands went to safe places on her back.  
  
Mac sighed into feeling of the body against her, but she swallowed hard at the feeling that something else was coming. Harm wasn't here for what he was insinuating. Even if her senses didn't scream that, it was clear that the man was clothed.  
  
But it didn't matter what she thought he was going to do. As long as his hand was on her back and his mouth hovered over her forehead and his knee rested on hers, and his chest and his cologne and his breath and his whispers.. Mac couldn't go anywhere even if she wanted to.  
  
"I did a lot of thinking about what you said on the phone."  
  
She started to shake her head with a guilty wince. "I'm so sorry, Harm. The things I said."  
  
"Hush." It nearly sounded like an order. "The things you said were harsh, but they were things that have been eating on you." He tucked down to look at her face. "Haven't they?"  
  
She said nothing. She simply folded her lips together and hoped he wasn't looking at her.  
  
"I never thought of you a sister. Colleague, best friend, partner. but never a sister. And I never once forgot that you were a woman." His controlled voice was quieter than usual. "Not once."  
  
Mac swallowed the guilt and nearly wept at the sweet words dancing across her forehead.  
  
"You were right about one thing though," he continued. "With anybody else I would have been able to jump right back into step the next day."  
  
Her chin lifted a little. She rested her face so close to his chin that she could feel his breath on her eyes. "So, why couldn't you?"  
  
"Because a crucial part of my dream was missing," he said quietly. He folded his lips closed and closed his eyes. He had to concentrate to cool the heat in his chest before he continued.  
  
She smiled from ear to ear with discomfort and insanity. After what he'd said in the middle of that night, lord only knows what else went on in the back of his head. "I'm not sure I want to know."  
  
He breathed a new smile at that and then caught it again.  
  
Mac heard it. Her smile faded to a worried ripple. The dimple showed up on the side of her chin as she fretted with this. "So what was missing?"  
  
He ducked to look directly at her face even if she couldn't see him. He lifted his palm from her back and traced his fingertips over her shoulder. He didn't realize he was holding his breath, but he managed to order his mouth closed.  
  
She breathed out a nervous smile as if pretending she didn't notice the fingers sliding up her stretched neck. His hand brushed back hair from her neck. His thumb kissed her chin. His fingers tucked under the strap and, in a tender, deliberate move, he slipped the blindfold off her head until they were staring into each other's eyes.  
  
Both chests gradually swelled with new emotion. Pulse pounded in ears. Thoughts hung in the air. His eyes were steady but scared. Her brows slanted and her eyes widened. Harm could read her slow surge of panic and Mac could read his uncontrolled fright. It took conscious thought not to push the other away, not to jab into a fight, not to crack a joke, not to change the subject. But neither could find their breath to do any of those things anyway.  
  
Harm's lips pealed open to speak, but it took a long minute before he could breath enough to do so. "I misled you."  
  
Her brow flicked a little, but her eyes stayed on him, still caught up in the closeness.  
  
"About the dreams I was having." He swallowed, and rubbed his lips together, and opened his mouth to try again, "You tried to apologize, but you shouldn't. I am just as guilty." His eyes looked down, finding his thoughts. "Not because I didn't send you away, but because I led you to believe that. that," his eyes came back, "was what I had been dreaming about."  
  
Her brows rippled and her head moved back an inch so she could focus better. Before she found words for her questions, he opened his mouth again.  
  
He wavered in his own defenses. "Not to say that wasn't included in them-" he caught his breath, suddenly expecting to be slapped. His eyes flicked fearfully back to her.  
  
Mac patiently adjusted her head on his arm. A hint of humor rested in her eyes, but she rose a brow, decisively giving him all the rope he wanted.  
  
Harm saw her cue and relaxed enough to breathe, close his eyes, and grin embarrassed. "Mac." His voice was smooth and casual, but kept his eyes closed. Then his voice changed. "Sarah."  
  
His eyes opened just as hers closed. She winced as defenses started going up again.  
  
"When I dream about you, it's about your laugh. your eyes, your voice. things you say.." He tried to pull it in again, and he managed to grab some of it, but not much. "I misled you because it was a lot less," he smiled anew, "frightening to have you think they were just about sex, than if you knew I -" his breath caught in his throat mid-sentence. It was unplanned. The speech hadn't been rehearsed. He hadn't been sure how he was going to explain it. But, with the way it came out, the words managed to sneak up behind him, only catching them at his lips before he realized what he was about to say.  
  
Brown eyes opened again at his halt, but not because of his halt. She could read it out of his eyes. His explanation was already telling her through his tone. Mac's lips went fuller as her mouth opened in shock.  
  
Harm deliberately pulled in a long breath and let it out with a smile, finally finishing his sentence a different way, "than if you knew how I felt about you."  
  
A smile splashed across her face and she tilted her head back send a silent swear silently to the ceiling.  
  
He chuckled to watch her expressions love him and curse him at the same time and sobered into a quietly happy panic when she cuddled in and met his eyes again. Her eyes were glittering even though her teeth gritted behind her smile. "I still don't know, Harm."  
  
He was stuck soaking up her eyes and smiled from ear to ear at his own tap dance. "Yes, you do." He was proud of himself, but Harm's smile faded when her sad eyes flicked down and out of sight.  
  
Disappointment had crashed into her soul. He was still the same old control freak saying the same old things. She hadn't realized how much hope sprung up as she awoke and listened to his words until now, when he was decisively avoiding saying anything. No matter how direct she pulled, he wouldn't let it be drug out.  
  
He hadn't let go of her though. They were still wrapped around each other like a comfortably close couple. Even with her disappointment and his occasional panic, they stayed in each others arms as if that was the safest place to fight.  
  
Harm tucked his mouth between the pillow and her temple. He closed his eyes to hide and whispered his case. "Mac, I've been pining for you long before Brumby even knew your name. I came to talk to you about it after he left but you needed time to recover, and I'm happy to give you as much time as you need, but don't make me.."  
  
"Lose control," she whispered for him. Her eyes were open to see his jaw, neck and ear and she was still caught between soaring and crashing.  
  
His whisper grinned with a nod, "don't make me lose control by myself."  
  
"You're not," she whispered.  
  
"It feels like I am," he admitted, "more often than not. You spend so much time trying to get me to talk that you're not saying anything either."  
  
Her head shifted at the revelation.  
  
He smiled into her temple. "You didn't notice that, did you?"  
  
She breathed out a grin of embarrassment and lightly shook her head. A deep chuckle rumbled warmly in his chest. He tucked his chin to try to look down at her, but she didn't look up.  
  
"What about conduct unbecoming?" she whispered, looking for his take on the common stumbling block.  
  
He smiled some more and his voice sing-songed softly into her ear. "Too late." As he kissed her forehead, her eyes closed for the fullest, warmest smile so far that day. They chuckled softly together, realizing again what it was that got them here. When the laughter settled into silent reverie, he wrapped deeper around her and pulled her so close against him they were flat against each other from ducked chins to tangled legs. She gripped and gathered the back of his shirt in her fingers, and he squeezed her like he was never going to let her go. With her mouth tucked into his neck and his arms wrapped so far around her that they reached the opposite shoulders, it was the safest place she'd ever been.  
  
She had been just as silent and controlled.. That she could change. She whispered into his neck, "I want to be yours."  
  
She could feel his voice bounce in his throat. "You already are."  
  
It sounded like another tap dance, another vague statement she could break down a hundred different ways. Her eyelids rippled. "Harm, I meant-"  
  
His voice smiled, "I know what you meant."  
  
She wasn't sure about that, but Harm ducked to look her in the eyes so she could see that he did, and old dusty hopes and dreams swelled into her expression. He found enough of his strength to lower his mouth to hers. Her smile faded but only to make way for the intensity of the moment. He paused, checking her eyes for signs that he should stop, and then let his lips find hers. Their eyelids didn't fall until they were tasting each other.  
  
His kiss was almost timid, like he was again afraid that the dream was going to shatter if he moved too fast or too strong. He tasted like cool, gentle spring water. She opened her mouth more to him, inviting him to reach deeper into her heart and Harm gingerly took it. She was warm, soft and sweet and soaked his veins with the sizzle of intoxication. Technically, it wasn't their first kiss, but it felt like it.  
  
The kiss came to an end by itself and left them both panting softly in each other's mouths. Sarah's heart thudded in her chest. His arms were wrapped firmly around her. He was tender and strong and felt so good..  
  
She tried to smile to make the intensity slow down. Then she realized she was trembling and ducked her chin. She closed her eyes and concentrated to control her breathing, control the temptation to simply fall willingly and helplessly into his command.  
  
Harm smiled as he slowed his breath and, before he second-guessed himself again, he let the words roll of his tongue unhindered. "I love you."  
  
Her eyes flicked back up as her heart galloped right out of control. He looked just as surprised about it as she did, but he didn't duck his eyes away from her or try to take it back.  
  
Actually, he looked caught like he was dangling from a rope and waiting to be saved. She breathed out in a new smile, "I love you too."  
  
Harm's breath stopped in his throat. His eyes widened but they shined like diamonds at her at the same time. She snickered at his expression and settled her ear onto the same pillow just far enough to focus on his face without going cross-eyed. Their bodies parted only by an inch, but their knees were still folded together. His hand was still warm on her waist and hers still on his stomach. There was no intent of sex today, it would have been too much to handle, but neither was ready to break this comfortable contact just yet.  
  
He shlyly closed his eyes and snickered at himself for a moment. "That was the other thing that was missing," he muttered, trying to lighten the mood before he went mad.  
  
"All you had to do was ask for it," she said only half teasing.  
  
He opened his eyes to laugh with her about it and they both settled into a happy glow. Unshielded and strangely unafraid, they stared at the new truth in each other's eyes for several long minutes.  
  
We've known each other for so long. You've worked with me and fought with me and laughed with me. You've protected me and saved my life and held me up when I was weak and yanked me down when I was too high. You stood by and watched me fall in love with someone else, and you dried my tears when they let me down. You've been the best friend I've ever had.I trust you more than anyone I know.  
  
Now were standing at the beginning again and I'm already so far gone. I'm so soaked to the bone with emotions I can't control. If you break my heart, who will dry my tears then?. I've never felt more terrified. I've never felt more secure. I've never felt like this before.I guess I really do love you.  
  
Harm pulled in a deep sigh, closed his eyes, and wrapped his body around her the same time she quivered a breath and curled up into him. The room was completely silent and the drawn curtains kept the room cool and deeply shaded no matter how much the sun had come up. The bed was soft, the sheets warm, and the pillows cozy. Harm had never felt so completely at peace and Mac never felt so safe. The spinning thoughts drizzled away until all that was left was a sluggish recognition of the body they were wrapped around. Harm started drifting to sleep first, but caught himself with a sudden jerk.  
  
Mac pealed her eyes open and smiled.  
  
"I've been up all night," he mumbled. "I need to," he cleared his throat and started pealing away from her to lay on his back, "either get up and drink some coffee or um. go home and get some sleep."  
  
She let him go so he could stretch and pulled the sheet over her body again, but she propped her temple onto her fist and looked down at him with a soft grin, "Sleep here."  
  
His eyes flicked over. His mouth hung open trying to find words for his debate that it was a bad idea.  
  
Her chin shifted, correcting his assumption before he said it, "Otherwise, it'll feel like this was a dream."  
  
His mouth closed, considering that.  
  
Mac's eyes twinkled. She leaned down and gave him a long thoughtful kiss on his cheek, one that he closed his eyes and moved into, and she twinkled more when she pulled away again. Harm watched her climb out of the bed with the sheet wrapped around her, pull a pair of jeans, shirt and bra out of the dresser, and flick a grin at him before walking out to the living room.  
  
Harm's head landed on the pillow again with a smile at the ceiling. He realized it again, and his eyes moved around her bedroom with wonder and amazement. He smiled wistfully into the air again, closing his eyes to remember hers, and drifted off to sleep before he had actually decided to do so.  
  
Hours later, Harm awoke surprised to find himself in Mac's bed and lifted his head to look around for her. She wasn't there, but signs of a recent visit from her were. He was covered with the blankets that had been on the floor when he arrived, and a fresh change his civvies lay in a neatly folded stack in the chair.  
  
He sniffed hard through his nose, waking up some more, and lifted to his elbows with a yawn. He blinked hard and crashed into the pillows again, slowly waking until he was alert enough to wonder how she got a hold of a change of his civvies.  
  
He could hear the television from the living room when he finally climbed out of the bed. His slacks were severely wrinkled and the waist of his undershirt was completely untucked. He scratched his stomach with another yawn as he made it to the chair and picked up his own white T-shirt with curiosity, unfolding it to study it like some piece of evidence and trying to remember when he last wore it.  
  
He last wore it the day before yesterday. Harm smiled and shook it open so he could put it on. She must have pulled his suitcase out of the truck and washed the clothes still dirty from the trip. He chuckled about it when he changed into the jeans. Of all the stuff they had been to each other, all the stuff they had done for each other, this was the first time Mac ever did his laundry.  
  
Harm knew Mac well enough to know that the minute he got used to such domestic treatment would be the same minute it would end.  
  
He was careful to step out of the bedroom a few minutes later, fully dressed yet still needing a shower. Suddenly, he wasn't sure what to expect.  
  
Mac was watching television as she folded a basket of her own laundry on the couch. She glanced up with a friendly smile without skipping a beat to tuck the sleeves behind the shoulders of a blouse and folded it into a perfect square on her lap. "How was your nap?"  
  
He swallowed as he stepped forward and nodded as he draped his black slacks across the back of the couch with the rest of his uniform. "It was good," he said with quiet honesty. "Thanks."  
  
She flicked her head to the kitchen. "You want me to brew up some coffee."  
  
He waved his fingers in the air, "Nah," but second guessed his own decision about it. His eyes shifted to her warily.  
  
Mac's smile was warm and knowing but her twinkling eyes stayed easily on the plastic basket in front of her and the clothes she pulled from it to fold.  
  
Harm shuffled behind the couch uncomfortably. "What time is it?"  
  
"Thirteen oh two," she said without looking up.  
  
He winced about sleeping so long and rubbed his forehead. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"  
  
Her voice dipped warmly, "You needed the sleep."  
  
He couldn't argue with that and stepped further behind the couch until he was directly behind her. He glanced at the laundry, the television, and then her back, rubbed his lips together in thought, and then stepped out toward the kitchen on a mission. "I think I'll take you up on that coffee."  
  
Mac glanced over just as he stepped around the stub wall to the kitchen, but he stopped her with assurances. "I'll brew it."  
  
What do I do now? He pulled out the coffee and filters. How do I act with her? He put the two together in the right cubby of the coffee machine. If she's doing my laundry, am I supposed to bring her flowers? He filled the pot with new water. Should I ask her on a real date? He hit the button with his thumb exactly three times in rapid succession. We go out to dinner frequently. What would be so different to make it a 'date'? He listened to the coffee brew as he thought on all this and leaned against the counter. I guess I'm going to be spending a lot more time here.  
  
He stared at nothing on the opposite counter for a long minute before he realized that he'd just performed the entire task of preparing coffee, from finding the stuff all the way down to scrolling through the machines delayed-brew options, with as much of a mindless routine as if he lived here. Harm ducked his chin and smiled from ear to ear, shaking his head at himself about it.  
  
Mac called from the living room. "Do you want a hanger for your uniform?"  
  
He stood on both feet again, "No, thanks. I'm going to take it straight to the cleaners." He opened the cupboard and pulled out a mug. "You want some coffee?"  
  
"I've got my water."  
  
He giggled as he poured his coffee. Was that what their house was going to sound like?  
  
"Nah, probably not." He answered aloud, but refused to let himself imagine up the screaming arguments and the screaming children that their house probably would sound like.  
  
It was a good day. He didn't want to spoil it.  
  
He realized upon entering the living room again, however, that he had to spoil the day anyway. She glanced over at him as he sat down in the chair, but the twinkle was gone to seriousness. They had to talk. realistically this time. They had to make a plan to handle Monday. And they had to form an attack pattern for when they faced the Admiral.  
  
She paused her work to turn off the television by remote but went right back to folding the clothes. Harm set his elbows on his knees and cradled the cup in both hands. He sipped occasionally and stared into the ink black liquid the rest of the time. They had to think of something, but so much had changed, it took work to figure out where to start. They avoided the other's eyes as they brainstormed, and the mood iced over a little because of it.  
  
"I'm going to go talk to the Admiral this afternoon," he decided quietly, "see if I can clear this up a little."  
  
She dropped the shirt in her lap, appalled at him. "Why just you? We should both go."  
  
His eyes flicked to her with a grin, "He wasn't mad at you, Mac."  
  
She cocked her head at that and started folding again. "I was the one that was drunk and babbling," she pointed out indignantly.  
  
Harm shrugged softly, then looked at her from under his brows. "How much do you remember?"  
  
"All of it," she started. "Most of it," she corrected. "I don't remember him telling you to come home."  
  
"That was after you passed out." He rubbed the rim of the mug with his thumb in thought. "He called me back and ah." he grinned again, "ripped me a new one."  
  
She shook her head at him. "Why is he angry with you?"  
  
Harm grinned and pulled his mug up to sip. "Because he thinks that I tried to pull a one night stand on you."  
  
Her head fell back on her neck with a silent swear at the ceiling. "Then I should correct him."  
  
"No," he muttered gently. "I don't really think he wants to know the details, Mac."  
  
She looked over again.  
  
Harm could see it out of the corner of his eyes, but had no intentions of telling her everything the Admiral had said. "He's guarding you like a father." His eyes flicked to hers. "So I need to give him assurances that I'm going to," his grin grew to a blushing smile across his face as he said it, "treat you well."  
  
Mac's brow lifted at him. "Well, are you?" she teased.  
  
Harm's eyes sparkled at her. He chuckled and sipped his coffee again.  
  
She folded the last bit of clothes and stood to stack them neatly back into the basket and teased a little more. "If the Admiral wants to kick your ass when you don't, he's going to have to stand in line."  
  
He muttered a quiet grin, "I am painfully aware of that."  
  
She glanced over at his tone and his words and saw him mindlessly rubbing the rim of his cup again. She sighed heavily. "I'm sure there will be a long enough line if I don't treat you as well, Harm."  
  
He grinned and shook his head, not agreeing in the slightest, but not verbally arguing with her either.  
  
She sighed out a new tone to change the direction of the conversation. "So, what do you suggest we do about tomorrow?"  
  
He smacked quietly and winced, "What goes on in court, stays in court." That was familiar enough. "What goes on in uniform, stays in uniform." That was an addition.  
  
She picked up the basket and grinned, "What goes on out of uniform, stays out of uniform?"  
  
He snickered softly and nodded. "Something like that."  
  
She paused before taking her basket down the hall, "You think that's going to work?"  
  
Blue eyes flicked up to her again, as gently serious as they could be. "It's going to have to."  
  
Mac shifted the basket in her arms. "You know, I'm surprised you're not hiding behind regs and trying to cancel this thing all together."  
  
He pulled up his mug to his lips and shrugged lightly. "Some things in life are more important than following regs."  
  
Both of her brows rose at that. She bubbled up a giggle, "Where did that come from?"  
  
He smiled behind his mug and lowered it to angle his face directly at her. His eyes shined all the things his words insinuated. "In the middle of the Atlantic," he told her. "The night you nearly married the wrong man and I nearly died a bachelor."  
  
Her eyes stuck on him a long moment with a curious smile on her mouth as if she wasn't sure she was reading what she was reading, and her chest heaved a slow inhale when she realized she really was reading it. She smiled from ear to ear, trying not to laugh nervously, and turned poignantly to the hall. "I'll be right back."  
  
Harm laughed comfortably to watch her dash away from that one.  
  
When she returned a few minutes later, he was standing and collecting his things.  
  
She put the basket down on the coffee table and straightened her shoulders, trying to figure out what to say next. She knew he had to go, even if she wanted him to stay. She decided not to argue but didn't hide the regret either. She fretted with how to do this. Should she kiss him goodbye, or shake his hand, or just wave?  
  
"Tomorrow," he said, still gathering his uniform in his arm, "we'll pretend we're still the same old best friends and shipmates." His eyes slid over to her and then his feet turned to her too. His chin rolled as he formed the next step for the other part of the plan. "And then I'll call you tomorrow night so we can also practice not pretending anything."  
  
She let the nervousness out of her chest with her pent breath. Her eyes rolled at the craziness of all this before landing on him again. Her eyes shined with love at him and her face flushed just a touch.  
  
Harm soaked it up. He cradled her face with his free hand and leaned over to kiss her on the opposite cheek. He wasn't at all quick about it, but he didn't linger either. He stood tall and faced her with a warm grin in his eyes. "Thanks for the nap."  
  
"Thanks for coming," she said honestly. She already felt well treated just because he went through all this, and said all that, just to put them back on the right track.  
  
Harm soaked up the sparkle in her eyes a long moment more, then smiled white teeth and stepped to the door. Mac walked him and leaned on the door jam so she could wave and watch him go.  
  
He glanced back over his shoulder, paused long enough to exchange a wordless twinkle with her, and marched out of the building like he'd just conquered the world.  
Monday  
  
Mac's hands sweated on the steering wheel all the way into work until she pulled onto base and a song came on the radio. It's a Wonderful World brought a disbelieving smile to her face she shook her head and sighed the confidence back into her chest, and paused after she parked to hear the song out.  
  
She climbed out with a silent chuckle and locked her car. As she stepped out across the parking lot, Harm rolled up.  
  
She glanced at him and stopped so he could pass.  
  
He smiled, ducked his head, and waved a hand to invite her across.  
  
She smiled shyly back, ducked her chin, and stepped it out again to get out of his way. By the time she got to the front steps, the initial burst of terror had already subsided and she was tall and cocky to walk into the building.  
  
Harm chuckled the words to the song under his breath as he closed down his car, hopped out to slap his hat on with an arrogant flick of his shoulders, and bit the smile off his lower lip before strutting up into the building.  
  
"Welcome back, Colonel." Harriett was clearly happy to see her and oblivious to drama. "How was California?"  
  
"California was." Mac thought for the right word, "interesting."  
  
Harriet's brows dipped up under her blonde bangs but her grin brightened. "I was expecting you to say 'warm.' I heard it was over eighty degrees out there."  
  
Mac ducked a smile at that and nodded. "True, I only used my coat to get to and from our airport."  
  
Harriet's face brightened more. She was always the bright penny of the office. "Good morning, Commander. Welcome back."  
  
Mac slid a glance back that would pass for a polite hello and stepped toward her office.  
  
Harm exchanged her glance, then smiled from ear to ear at Harriet. His face was as bright as hers, but his voice was low and smooth, "Good Morning, Lieutenant." He directed his feet the other way around to his own office.  
  
"The Colonel tells me it was warm out there." She said, just making friendly morning conversation.  
  
He licked a new grin on his face, exchanged glances at Mac again as the woman moved into her office, and swiveled around to Harriet, walking backwards a few paces. "It had its moments."  
  
Harriet flicked confusion about that, but shrugged it off with a smile and sat back down at her desk. She stood again before she had the chance to get comfortable. "Good morning, sir."  
  
Sturgis was worried. "Good morning. Is Commander Rabb back?"  
  
She pointed with her pen. "In his office, sir."  
  
Sturgis bit part of his lower lip but didn't move that way. "How did he sound?"  
  
Harriet's brows moved back under her bangs. "He sounded fine, sir. Is there something wrong?"  
  
Sturgis shook his head, "No." He glanced at Harm's office and considered, but trashed the idea just as fast. "No, I'm sure your right." He turned away to step to his own office, but his eyes hung towards the other two offices as he went.  
  
In the coffee mess, Harriett and Bud were sipping and stirring their mugs, squinting with smiles at all this. Harm was telling his story again only because it was enough to make them feel like they heard all they needed to about the trip. "So then this student pulls out this wad of plastic-"  
  
Mac stepped in, paused at the gathering, and smiled at Harm's story. Harriet stepped aside so she could get her coffee, and Mac waved at Harm. "Go ahead."  
  
He had to look passed Mac's head to focus on Bud and his eyes hung a second longer than they were supposed to. Bud's brows started to do their little wrinkle at him.  
  
Harm blinked and forced it out of his mouth, "so ah, he pulls out this wad of plastic and says, 'No, I keep it in my pocket.'"  
  
"In class?!" Bud spat. Harriet's mouth opened with shock. Mac chuckled as she went for the sugar.  
  
Harm nodded and laughed about it, sipping his coffee again, "So, she stomps around and up to him. And she confiscated it. It turned out it was the wrap to his sandwich."  
  
Bud and Harriet were laughing in shock over it, asking more questions and muttering words of complete disbelief. Mac just chuckled when she strolled out of the coffee mess again. She exchanged a quick glance with him and it was taken just as quick and light.  
  
So far so good.  
  
But Mac was headed off at the pass back to her office. Tiner stepped swiftly around the desks to her. "Good morning, Colonel. Welcome back."  
  
Mac stopped with her coffee and gave him her attention. "Thank you, Tiner." She smiled, "Nice and quiet while I was gone?"  
  
"Yes, ma'am." He said fervently, then caught himself, "I mean no, ma'am - Well, I mean..."  
  
She chuckled, "Never mind, Tiner. What can I do for you?"  
  
"Well, ma'am. I was wondering if you had a chance to verify that Miss Young was the Petty Officer Young I knew before."  
  
By this time, Harm stepped out of the coffee mess with Bud and Harriet and the name caught his attention. He stepped up behind Mac's shoulder to join the talk, and since they were in front of Harriet's desk to begin with, Harriet and Bud just sort of conveniently overheard.  
  
"I never got the chance to ask, Tiner," Mac winced sympathetically. "I'm sorry."  
  
Harm flicked his chin at Tiner, "Where do you think you knew her from?"  
  
Tiner clasped his hands behind him and pressed his mouth. "I knew a Young in A school when I was stationed in Orlando, sir. But I don't remember which rate she was training for. She got her crow and shipped to the west coast, and I lost touch with her."  
  
"Matches the suspect so far," Harm admitted.  
  
"If I showed you a picture, sir," Tiner squinted curiously, "could you identify her?" He already had a snapshot in his hand. "It's twelve years old, sir, so no laughing."  
  
Harm reached for the picture with a rippled grin in his brows and Mac leaned over to look at it.  
  
Though you couldn't see much of the surroundings, that it was at a bar was obvious. A half empty pitcher of beer was in the foreground and several mugs, cigarette packs, and napkin piles were around the table. At the other side were three young sailors in blues. On the left was a man laughing so hard that he was already bending out of the picture. A baby-faced Tiner was in the middle, stuffing his third class crow shoulder out like it was supposed to be a victory picture, but never quiet made it that far. He was looking over his shoulder with a big, bright, giggly smile at the female sailor behind him. Jodi Young could not have been twenty years old. Her front flattened up to Tiner's back and her crow shoulder was out next to him for the victory picture. She had a wild, playful, mad-man smile on her face at the camera. And she had a white napkin pinned crooked over her crow where she had drawn shocked circles of eyes for a happy face and a wide V of a smiley mouth to stand in place of her third class patch.  
  
Harm curled over with a laughter and handed it over to Mac as he straitened again, "Oh, that's her." He chuckled again, head rolling as he tried to imagine that woman in the Navy. "That's definitely her."  
  
Mac snickered her head back and forth and handed it to Bud and Harriet, who giggled at the silliness in the picture.  
  
Harriet was charmed, "Tiner, you look so young!"  
  
"So does she," Mac pointed out, looking at Tiner sympathetically, "From what we gathered, she's been through a lot since you last saw her."  
  
Tiner's eyes shaded a little, "What do you mean?"  
  
Mac shrugged at the picture as Harriett handed it back to him. "Well, she's going gray already, and she's my age."  
  
Harm angled his head, "Yeah, but you dye your hair."  
  
"I do not!" Mac shot back at him.  
  
Tiner took the picture back, ducked in his shoulders and turned to go back to his desk in a big snickering hurry.  
  
Harm stepped away smoothly, motioning to her as he went. "That's not an insult, Mac. It's a good color on you."  
  
She clasped her fingers behind her and rolled her head as if she were inviting him in for a battle of wits, as he was so unprepared.  
  
He wiggled his fingers in the air, licked a grin, and paused before diving into his office again. "It's kind of a grizzly bear brown, isn't it?"  
  
Mac about-faced back to Harriet's desk, cool as cucumber. "Give me something to throw at him."  
  
Harm ducked into his office and closed the door with a smile.  
  
Bud stepped away from Harriet's desk with a compliment. "It was too quiet while you were gone, ma'am."  
  
Harriet sat down at her desk and offered the stapler.  
  
Mac's tongue went into her molar, considering, then the ground shook, as it always did, when someone called, "Admiral On Deck!"  
  
Harm and Mac did a bit of a tap dance around each other before they decided who was going to sit in which chair at the meeting table. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice and they ripped their eyes from each other before the smiles started to grow again. They settled in comfortably and looked at Bud, Sturgis and Singer across the table and they all waited for the Admiral to show up.  
  
Singer was pressing her mouth shut at a file in front of her. Sturgis had his elbow on the armrest, thumbing his lower lip at Harm with concern, and Bud smiled bright and innocent. "That picture of Tiner was something, huh?"  
  
Harm smiled casually at Sturgis, nodded just enough to let the man know that everything was fine, and nodded more at Bud. "He certainly has a side to him that I didn't know about."  
  
Sturgis grinned a little, having caught on over coffee. "He looked like he was having a good time."  
  
Mac rose a brow, but her eyes hung on the table when she said it. "He looked like he was in love."  
  
All eyes flicked over to her with varying degrees of wide but silent shock.  
  
Mac glanced up at all of them and winced defensively, "Well he does!"  
  
Harm turned his chin hard in the other direction, trying to recover without being obvious about it.  
  
Mac put her elbow on the arm rest and motioned with her hand. "All right. Put it together, Harm. The gun lock box,"  
  
He hid his wrinkled forehead with his fingers.  
  
"The way she held her crow when she put on the jacket."  
  
He dropped his hand, flattened his mouth at the table, and listened.  
  
"They knew each other from A school."  
  
His brows furrowed, he glanced over.  
  
"And the first time she fell in love was  
  
.on the lake shore in Orlando." They said in unison.  
  
The Admiral came in and sat down. Harm turned his face to Sturgis, just because it was convenient, and paused to chew on this one for a moment.  
  
Sturgis raised his brows.  
  
The Admiral folded his fingers on the table, turned to Rabb and spat loud and impatient. "What?"  
  
Harm blinked, "Nothing sir. We were just talking about Tiner, sir."  
  
"What about him?"  
  
Mac said it carefully, but with a grin. "We believe our ex-suspect in California was an old girlfriend of his, sir."  
  
The Admiral pressed his mouth and nodded, not really caring and started looking at the files in front of him. He started picking up files as if ready to start passing them out. "Everything in California settled?" He glanced over at them expectantly.  
  
With severity and quiet fervor, they both nodded. "Yes, sir." Then Harm added, about the case this time, "I'll have my report on your desk by close of business, sir."  
  
"Good." The Admiral spat unhappily and handed Sturgis a file. "Article 129. Prosecute.. "  
  
They didn't talk much outside of the office, but they were back to the same playful war while they were inside the office. Warm glances were snuck back and forth. Not many, but at least once a day, and their old, well-oiled form of communication suddenly found a new use. Work had been piled in their absence, as usual, and they were swimming enough in it to often forget about what had happened. Only once did they talk over the phone from home since that Sunday, and then it was only warm, friendly, topic-less chatting.  
  
It was enough to just know, and it was un-verbalized agreement that it was going to take some time just to get used to that much.  
  
So that's what they did.  
  
With the report in hand and a defense ready for it, Harm got permission to keep touch with California over the Young case, just like he'd promised. The final punch to justify the long distance phone calls was a wide eyed but respectful plea from Tiner. As the Admiral got the gist of Tiner's probable interest in it, he sighed a patient grin and waved Rabb off with an approval.  
  
Tiner's plea was still in his eyes when Harm stepped back for his office afterwards, and Harm waved him to follow with a grin. The petty officer stood by his desk at a casual parade rest and Harm leaned back to check the time difference as he dialed California.  
  
The voice had to be Jodi's, "Hello?"  
  
"Hello, Ms Young. This is Commander Rabb of JAG-"  
  
"Uh, just a second." The phone was pulled away for a shout that made Rabb pull the phone from his ear. "MOM!"  
  
Harm glanced up at an eager Tiner as he waited. The man probably didn't know that she had children.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hello, Ms Young. This is Commander Rabb of JAG."  
  
She sighed with relief. "Hello, Commander. Gimme a sec." She started stepping somewhere, shooting orders at her children as she moved. "Sit. Cartoon. The laundry basket is not a car." She kept moving, closed a door, and the air got quieter, "Sorry, sir." She lit up a cigarette. "What can I do for you?"  
  
"I called to see how things were going. I got approval to keep in touch with your attorney and help see this thing through."  
  
"Cool." She brightened. "Sure, let me get you his number." She said as she moved back in the house. "He seems to know his stuff," she said, surprised by it. "They found someone that looks more guilty than me, apparently. He's holding off my trial until this other guy's, and if he's found guilty, he says I'll never have to go in. here's the number."  
  
Harm nodded and jotted it down. "That was the plan when I left. I just want to make sure it was followed up by someone."  
  
Her voice was genuine but quiet, "Thank you, sir. I'm honored."  
  
Harm glanced up at Tiner. "Say, just out of curiosity, do you know a PN1 Jason Tiner?"  
  
"PN1?" She bubbled a giggle. "Wow. wait a minute."  
  
Harm smiled.  
  
Her voice sounded like her face suddenly paled, "He's not mentioned in my service record, is he?" What kind of records to these people keep?!  
  
"No," Harm chuckled, "He's standing right here, actually." His voice yanked a careful octave, "Would you like to speak with him?"  
  
"Yes!"  
  
Harm handed over the phone, leaned back in his chair, and watched Tiner's expression.  
  
He was wide-eyed nervous at first. "Hello? Jodi?" Then a smile grew from ear to ear. He glanced at the Commander and then his eyes sparkled at the air over the desk. "I saw your name on a record and I asked around.. Well, it's a client privilege. thang." He snickered, "Something like that." He listened and nodded, he caught his breath and his eyes went wide with nerves, then his eyes lit up again, "Yeah, give it to me." He waved at the Commander for a pen and paper.  
  
Harm graciously complied, getting a complete kick out of Tiner's shy, loverboy nerves.  
  
"Uh huh..." He wrote down her number on a post it note. "Yeah, I'll call you tonight. We can catch up." He flashed a new smile, listened a little more and laughed out loud. "Oh hell no." He forgot his company for a moment, raise his voice with his brows and his smile, "Shit, if I were married you think my wife would let me call you?" He caught a disbelieving blink. "Well, are you?"  
  
He ducked a smooth smile. "Well then you don't have anything to worry about." He snickered again and changed his voice. "Listen, I have to get back to work- what?" He nodded. "Okay. Will do." His brows furrowed. "Who's that in the background?"  
  
Harm dropped his head to his desk, praying for Tiner's sake, even if he didn't think they'd match.  
  
"Oh okay. 24 hundred my time. All right. Yeah." He smiled wide again. "Talk to you later. bye."  
  
He handed the phone back to the Commander with a new smile on his face. "Thank you, sir." There was something of a smug and cocky in his eyes. He'd never expect it out of shy, nervous, blubbering Tiner. There really was a side to him they'd never seen. Harm's brows lifted.  
  
Tiner didn't pause to be dismissed, he just rolled on his heal to the door and zipped of the office with a cocky sailor strut like he'd just conquered the world. 


	6. December

December  
  
It felt like a big step even though they'd done the exact same thing hundreds of times before. As they ate at the riverside restaurant, they fell into the safety of case related arguments, the usual office gossip, and a long discussion about whether her shirt was tan, brown, taupe, or grizzly-colored. It was at this point that Mac dropped her hands to her lap and her chin to her chest and Harm giggled quietly in his own chair across the table as he signed off the tab.  
  
They walked separately to don their long thick coats, still sniggering over it, and stepped out of the restaurant to find a silent night and huge flakes of snow. Mac raised her face to smile at it. Harm held out his arm in offering.  
  
She took it, grinned at her feet, and walked with him back to the car. They were as silent as the sleepy city street and in less hurry to get anywhere than the snow was to get to the ground.  
  
Mac couldn't stand it anymore. She was smiling about it, but bold and attacking at the same time. "Are we dating?"  
  
He glanced over and smiled out to where he was walking. "Do you want to be?"  
  
"Do you?"  
  
"Are we playing questions again?"  
  
"Only if you're avoiding the question."  
  
"Statement. One, love."  
  
She snickered, but looked at the side of his thoughtfully dropped face and asked again. "Are we dating?"  
  
He raised his face and looked over. "If I say, yes, will you be mad at me for being presumptuous?"  
  
She smiled and shook her head. "No."  
  
"If I say, no, will you be mad at me for playing hard to get?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
He smiled from ear to ear, shrugged lightly, and said, "Then I guess we're dating."  
  
She giggled silently a moment, but pulled seriousness over her sparkling eyes. "I'm glad we got that cleared up."  
  
He chuckled at the air and pulled out his keys with his free hand. "I'm glad we're not fighting anymore."  
  
Mac rose a brow. "Oh, so you think that we're going to fight less because we're dating now?"  
  
He paused, flicked his eyes to her and they died with a smile of realization. "Oh boy."  
  
She giggled as he opened her door and slid in. He raised his face to the snow as he walked around, chuckling like he was about to cry, and climbed in.  
  
When he dropped her off at her house, he walked her up, but didn't try to get into the apartment like she'd almost expected him to. He simply leaned a shoulder on the door jam, put his other on his hip, and grinned over at her from the side of his eyes.  
  
When she recognized the expression, she pulled in a deep, fearful breath.  
  
He stood on both feet before she let it back out again. His eyes changed from insinuating and considering to friendly and comfortable. He took a step back out in the hall. "Good night, Mac."  
  
She rubbed her lips together, struggling with what to say.  
  
He only gave her another warm grin, turned on his heals, and strolled easily away.  
  
He repeated the same pause and the same friendly goodbye for weeks to come. Even when he did stay for a cup of cocoa after dinner, cuddled sideways on her couch to face her cuddling sideways against the other armrest, he let their conversation softly die into a mildly twinkling stare down. And, as soon as Mac sucked in a breath of nerves, he climbed to his feet, leaned over to kiss her cheek, and easily left.  
  
She was starting to wonder if he was ever going to make a pass at her again. Then she started to wonder if he was waiting for a cue of some kind. Maybe he could just read the nerves in her eyes, but if that were the case, he was never going to breach the barrier. Until it was broken, the nervousness that flared when he looked at her like that would always be there.  
  
She decided she would have to give him a cue, and that would mean she had to work herself up to it. When the Christmas decorations went up in the city, she realized how long ago California had been. At the tired end of a court day, she walked in and found him across the office, leaning on Harriet's terminal, squinting to ask questions about some case, and angling his head to look at a file.  
  
The Holiday Part RSVP's were on a stack on Harriet's desk, the bright blue cards standing out among the manila files and white paperwork.  
  
A big smile crossed her face.  
  
Mistletoe.  
  
She smiled as she strolled up and greeted Harriet.  
  
He glanced over. "So?"  
  
"Guilty," she nodded with a pressed mouth, "on all charges."  
  
He rose a brow and turned his head at that, having expected it.  
  
"Did you RSVP to the party, Colonel?" Harriet asked, beginning to flip through the cards on her desk.  
  
"Yes, I did." Mac said, dropping her files to hang from her hands in front of her. "One."  
  
Harriet nodded, pursed her lips and hit a key on the computer to check her logs. "Ah, got it. Thank you."  
  
"I was wondering," Mac half-turned to Harm. "That is, if you're not taking a date, can you give me a ride to the party?"  
  
He glanced up from the file, and a grin twinkled in his eye as he folded it closed and tucked it under his arm. "Of course," then added for posterity, "You don't want to drive?"  
  
Mac shook her head with a shrug. "It's on the way, might as well carpool."  
  
Harriett busted out in a giggle. "Okay. You can stop now." They both looked back to find the woman motioning her hands to the rest of the empty office. "It's just me."  
  
Mac's eyes narrowed at her to shut up.  
  
Harm's eyes widened fearfully at her. He tried to sound innocent. "What do you mean?"  
  
Harriet snickered at them like they were blind, but realized she was under orders by her husband to keep her mouth shut. "Sorry, sir. I just thought ." she rocked her head back and forth to think of the right words, and winced up when she came up with nothing.  
  
Harm glanced at Mac and back at Harriet. His brows wrinkled horribly. He ducked in to keep his voice quiet. "How did you find out?"  
  
She blinked innocently up at him and sighed a smile to admit it. "Bud told me."  
  
Mac strolled up with a puzzled twist in her neck. "How did Bud find out?"  
  
Harriet looked at one, then the other, and inhaled to spill it-  
  
Harm stopped her with his hand, "Wait, what are you talking about first?"  
  
Harriet glanced back to the Admiral's office to find signs of emerging. There was none. She looked back and motioned to the two of them nonchalantly.  
  
Harm blinked long and hard, looked at Mac, and back and Harriet with a new squint. "Okay, so how did Bud find out?"  
  
Harriet shrugged from her chair. "Bud knew all along, sir. He says that you two were actually the last to know."  
  
Mac lifted her chin, her grin rippling a few times before it grew across her face. Harm licked his lips and lifted his brows.  
  
Mac's voice wasn't hushed, but it was deep. "Is there anybody that doesn't know?"  
  
Harriet angled her head, glancing around the empty office as her mind rifled through a muster list. Her eyes came back to them with a shy smile and a shrug. "Singer?. Maybe?"  
  
Harm put an elbow on her terminal and put his forehead in his hand.  
  
Mac finally let herself laugh out loud about it all. She shook her head and started turning away. Her eyes and Harm's eyes caught on a set of civvies walking fearfully into the room.  
  
When they looked over, so did Harriett. Jodi was dressed in black slacks and a black women's jacket. She had make up on and a soft curl in her hair. Her eyes went wide at them, licked her lips to a nervous grin, and then peeped up with a cute, bright, "Hi there!"  
  
Harm stood on his feet with a blink of shock. "Well, this is a surprise." As the woman stepped over, he motioned to Harriett. "Jodi Young, this is Lieutenant Sims. Ms. Young is our acquitted client from the California case two months ago."  
  
Harriett shook her hand without standing and nodded a smile. "Acquitted is good. Nice to meet you."  
  
Jodi angled her head a halleluiah to that. "Yes, mayam." She turned to Harm and stood on both feet, straitening her shoulder at him. "I was hoping I'd see you guys. I wanted to say thank you," she smiled deliberately at the Colonel, "in person." She pulled around a small Christmas package in her hand and gave it to Harm.  
  
His brows rippled as he reached for it.  
  
"Go ahead. Open it." She motioned shyly, "It's for both of you. I only had one box."  
  
Mac stepped up, grinning oddly at this.  
  
Harm started opening the package and tilted his chin. "You came all the way to D.C. to give us a Christmas gift?"  
  
Jodi's mouth rippled in an innocent grin. "Would you believe I was just in the neighborhood?"  
  
Harm gave her a look and shook his head.  
  
Mac pressed a grin. "I would."  
  
Harm sifted through the tissue paper and pulled up a round leather frame with dangling feathers. Mac squinted and pulled out a second one. They were two different shades of earth tone, webbed with sinew, and decorated with true turquoise and bone beads.  
  
"They're dream catchers." Jodi explained, shrugging. "I make 'em at home. You're supposed to hang them over your bed, see, and um, it catches all the bad dreams in the web but let all the good dreams come through."  
  
Harm closed his eyes in a disbelieving smile. Mac grinned at Jodi. "We know what they are."  
  
Jodi flicked her hair at that. "Oh good. Well, thanks, and happy holidays."  
  
"Thank you." Mac said, glancing at Harm. He wouldn't look back at her.  
  
Harm lifted his chin as he put the dream catcher in the box. A baffled smile rippled across his mouth before he formed the words at Jodi--  
  
An office door slammed behind Jodi, and Jodi was the only one who didn't know who's it was. The Admiral was calling orders to his aide about clearing his schedule for two on Monday for so and so. that sort of thing. The gold covered, unhumored man stopped short when he found a civilian in his office at this hour.  
  
Behind him, Tiner's eyes flashed wide, his shoes squeaked to a stop, and his entire body jumped as if someone had thrown something at him.  
  
"Can I help you?" the Admiral said to her from across the room.  
  
Jodi had flicked to something that looked damned close to attention and shook her head with the blubbering nerves Tiner would have. "No, sir."  
  
The Admiral squinted at her as he pulled his coat over his uniform. "Well, we're closed. Make an appointment for Monday." He settled into his coat and stood tall again.  
  
While the Admiral stared down the civilian with displeasure and confusion, Tiner was glancing from the back of his shoulder and over to Jodi with a complete struggle over what to do. And Jodi glanced from the Admiral to Tiner with the same struggle.  
  
The Admiral suddenly caught her glance and rolled his head dramatically back to his aide.  
  
Tiner smiled with wide-eyed and red-handed attempt at innocence.  
  
Harm angled his head with a smile. "Admiral, this is Ms Young. I don't believe she's here for a legal appointment, sir. Jodi, this is Admiral Chegwidden, the Judge Advocate General."  
  
The Admiral's brows knitted over the eyes that moved back to Jodi.  
  
Mac took a step and rested and elbow on the terminal. "Admiral? Would you put a sailor on report for PDA if the incident was just a 'hello' after a long deployment?"  
  
He lifted his brows at Mac, looked at Jodi, looked at Tiner, "How long was this 'deployment'?"  
  
Tiner swallowed and ducked his chin obediently. "Twelve years, sir."  
  
The Admiral's face cracked at the puppy beg expression on Tiner's face. He started to chuckle, lifted his head on his neck, and shook it at the ceiling as he stepped out of the way. He hooked his scarf on his neck and gave them a careless wave of his hand. "Go ahead."  
  
The two exchanged fearful glances but looked back at the Admiral, unsure.  
  
He stopped his stroll to the door, flicked back at them like it was an order. "Do I have to say it twice?"  
  
Jodi smiled and jumped into a run. Tiner smiled and grabbed her out of the air. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders with a squeal and he spun her around one full circle before putting her down again. They were glowing giggles at each other when they looked at each other's faces. "You were supposed to wait for me outside." He stressed through his teeth.  
  
"Are you kidding? It's colder than a witch's tit out there!" She chuckled back through tight teeth.  
  
The Admiral grinned wisely at it, waved good night to the others and stepped out of the room. Harriett watched from over her shoulder, proud of Tiner, and forced her eyes back to her terminal to close it down. Mac smiled a blush and swiveled away. Harm turned and took two steps before muttering to her, "Pick you up at six."  
  
She nodded at it, but paused at her office door to watch Tiner scramble for his pea coat and pull it on with smiling eyes of fear at the woman that was telling him to hurry. They bumped shoulders as they hurried out the door, giggling and eyeballing each other and muttering high-pitched greetings. "How was your trip?"  
  
"Dude, I haven't been away from my kids in so long that waiting in line for check-in was fun.."  
  
Harm watched them go as he closed his door, glanced at Mac as she went into hers, and waved good bye at both her and Harriet. "See you tomorrow."  
  
Harriet got out of her chair. "Good night, Commander."  
  
By the time Harm made it outside the building, Tiner and Jodi were knee deep in a snowball fight on the edge of the parking lot. They didn't notice him at all and played like children in the snow, laughing hysterically between grunts of cold ice in the face.  
  
Harm put his briefcase on the passengers seat and the dream catcher on top of it. He started his car thoughtfully. A new idea sparkled in his eyes. And he glanced again at the new youth in Jodi's laugh as he drove away.  
  
He was nervous when he rang the doorbell and Mac was nervous when she answered it.  
  
She was wearing a long, deep red evening gown that fit her curves as well as her skin did. His eyes widened a little, but he forced a smile. He stepped in as she picked up her coat and started pulling it on.  
  
He reached to help her, but when she handed the coat to him with a sweet thankful smile, he pulled it out from her reach.  
  
She turned to look.  
  
Harm held up a small, gift-wrapped box with a blue silken bow.  
  
She turned around and took it from him with a curious curl on her mouth. "Now?"  
  
"Now," he nodded and held her coat over his forearms.  
  
Blushing a grin, she unwrapped it and put down the paper on the coffee table. Flicking another shy glance to him, she opened the small white box.  
  
It was a pair of dangling diamond earrings. Not flashy, not too fancy, diamonds not too big. Still, it was diamonds. Her eyes flicked back up at him. Her mouth opened to speak-  
  
He angled his head away to grin shyly but brought it back with confidence. "Yes, they are real."  
  
She pulled off her earrings one at a time. "That's not what I was going to ask."  
  
He put down her coat and took the box as she handed it to him. He pulled them out for her so she could use both hands to snap them on. "Then what were you going to ask?"  
  
She sighed a flick of her brow as she put her earrings down and took the others from him. "We're at jewelry already?" she smiled like she liked it, but her eyes were still trying to figure it out. "You haven't even made a pass at me."  
  
Blue eyes twinkled nervously as he watched her put them on. "Is that a request?"  
  
She dropped her hands from the glittering diamonds and angled a clean dark eyebrow at him. Her eyes were full and warm and humored. She pointed up.  
  
His eyes flicked up above them, saw the mistletoe, and a smile splashed across his face. He looked down at her again, nodded crookedly at her deviousness, and wagged a finger at her. "This is supposed to be just carpooling tonight, Mac."  
  
Her open mouth smiled with a challenge. "Diamond earrings come with carpooling?"  
  
His grin sobered but only as the butterflies flared up in his stomach. A new shy grin rippled across his face. "No."  
  
His eyes were warm and his breathing was uneven. Mac took a step to him and lifted her face. Harm's mouth lowered as his lips parted. He didn't realize he was reaching for her waist until his fingertips found themselves on the dark red velvet. He advanced and inch, paused to stare into her eyes, and advance another inch to her mouth. Their eyelids didn't fall until they were tasting each other.  
  
His kiss was almost timid, like he was again afraid that the dream was going to shatter if he moved too fast or too strong. His other hand found her waist and his palms slid over the velvet to take her in. She let her hands feel the chest under his suit jacket. She opened her mouth more to him, inviting him to reach deeper, and Sarah lost herself in him.  
  
The kiss came to an end by itself and left them both panting softly in each other's mouths. Sarah's heart thudded in her chest. His warm suit jacket was open to her and his arms were wrapped around her. He was warm and strong and he felt so good..  
  
She tried to smile to make the intensity slow down. Then she realized she was trembling and ducked her chin. She closed her eyes and concentrated to control her breathing.  
  
Harm watched the fear wash over her face and carefully licked his lips in the thought. He knew she was frightened, and he knew why, and he needed her to know that he was just as terrified. "Sarah," he whispered tenderly, wanting her to look up at him again.  
  
Just his breath whispering her name across her cheek sent gooseflesh over her bare shoulders. Her breath quivered more and she turned deeper into his shoulder to hide from it.  
  
Harm just turned his head to follow her, whispering more directly into her temple. "I love you, Sarah." He pulled in slow, deliberate air and it shook coming back out. "Merry Christmas."  
  
Her fingers curled slowly, gathering his shirt in her hands, and her whole torso swelled up in him with a full, quaking sigh. Harm only slid his arms deeper around her shoulders and held her safely. He rested his chin against her head and smelled her hair. Her arms were folded up against his chest, but the rest of her body was snuggled warmly against him. And the feel of that dress. it took conscious thought to remember the party. Right now, he just wanted to lay her down and make long sweet love to her.  
  
She tilted her face up a little, as if to talk to him. Her lips hovered next to his chin and opened and inhaled, and Harm closed his eyes to drink in the feel of her voice, but she didn't speak. She kissed his chin.  
  
He started to smile and turned his face down to kiss her again, but she tucked deeper under his jawline. She kissed his neck.  
  
Harm inhaled long and deep the same time his hands grabbed her at her hips and he forced himself to peal the body away from him. Insult was in her eyes, but he tucked down to stare grinning honesty strait into them, "We are about to go to a party with the entire JAG command."  
  
Her hands wrapped around his to take them in front of her and pull them from her hips. She closed her eyes, already understanding he was right and hating him for it.  
  
His voice was cracking to stay careful and controlled despite the twinkle in his eyes. He stepped back to her, holding her hands and bumping lightly against her so he could mutter his soft chuckle into her bangs. "It'll look bad if both of us don't show up. And if we just," he winced a little, "go later, I'm not going to be able to look the Admiral in the eyes tonight at all."  
  
She started chuckling about it the same time he did.  
  
"Now, I would like nothing better than to ah." he grinned into her forehead, "make some breakfast but.."  
  
She snickered and ducked her face into his jaw line again.  
  
He snickered momentarily too, "Just imagine for a moment the look on his face when we arrive, equally late, and looking freshly." he caught his breath and ducked his chin to find the right term.  
  
Bright brown eyes peaked up. "Fed?"  
  
They tucked into each other with mad giggles over it, laughing drunk and comfortable in each other's arms for a full minute. The giggles eventually softened to sparkles, breath grew ragged onto each other's lips, and his fingers combed intensity at the velvet on her hips.  
  
Suddenly, he closed his eyes and lifted his hands from her body. He swallowed hard, still grinning a little, and took as step back.  
  
Mac smiled from ear to ear at the expression on his face and was still smiling when he opened his eyes and glared at her like she was doing all this on purpose.  
  
He picked up her coat and opened it for her to put it on. "Let's get out of here."  
  
Harm was squirming in his seat and Mac hid her grin behind her fingers. They sparked up in blushing giggles twice during the snowy drive, but managed to pacify it before they got to the place. Harm cracked down the parking break and turned to her, forcing his eyes to harden over the humor. "Just carpooling."  
  
She grinned, knowing this wasn't going to work, but let him have his way. "Just carpooling. Right." She was sniggering again as soon as she got out of the car.  
  
It was unusual for the JAG holiday party to be at a restaurant, much less a nice one. They didn't have the entire dining room and they weren't the only patrons at the bar, but everywhere you looked, there was someone, or the date of someone, from the office. They were most concentrated at a collection of large round tables in one corner of the room, and although there were no seating assignments, they coagulated naturally in their usual cliques.  
  
The Admiral and Miss Cavanaugh sat down at the first table into the room, and through the light complaints of snowy drives and rabid shoppers, was joined by Sturgis and Bobbi, Bud and Harriet, and Mac and. Harm's eyes flicked over the eight person table as he sat down, just now realizing how much they probably looked like a date, now that it was too late to sneak politely to another table and worked up the carpool story.  
  
Harriet was managing the table just fine to tell a tale about an impossible day care provider and drawing enough attention for Harm to relax a bit. He glanced over at the next table where several lawyers and legalmen were laughing as they put their napkins on their laps. He turned back, settling into his seat, and pretending not to notice the sultry curves on his right or the fatherly scowl on his left.  
  
He ended up finding Sturgis' wise grin, smiled politely, and glanced away when Sturgis ducked his grin before it chuckled.  
  
"Colonel, those are beautiful," Harriet's was washed with envy as she looked over at the earrings. "I've never seen those before. Are they new?"  
  
All eyes went to Mac. She touched the short dangling strings of diamonds and nodded. "Thank you. Yes, they were a Christmas gift."  
  
Bobbi nodded at Mac, deeply impressed, and Merideth leaned on the table to take a closer look, both leading the way for all to make the right noises about how beautiful they were. Then Bobbi angled her head curiously. "Who are they from?"  
  
Sturgis winced a little and tried to touch her hand from under the table. Harm dropped his eyes to the table top with the best of a casual disregard. Bud raised his brows with a giggle at Harm's expression. Harriet winced cautiously and glanced for the Admiral's reaction. Meredith simply leaned smugly back into her chair with a smooth grin. "I know who their from."  
  
The Admiral folded his hands on the tabletop as if he were leading a staff meeting. His sucked through his teeth a moment, lifted his head, and smiled at Ms. Latham. "With all due respect, Congresswoman, but it is in the Colonel's best interest to shield her eh." he glanced for an idea.  
  
And found Bud offering a term, "significant other, sir?"  
  
The Admiral caught on that, but continued, "private life. from becoming a gossip topic."  
  
Harriet was already laughing at the pursing lips of said private life. He was a silent defendant cat trying his best to look innocent and oblivious to the feather hanging out of his mouth. Sturgis ducked his eyes into his hand and chuckled. Mac folded her lips together and smiled shyly at Bobbi.  
  
Bobbi caught on before he was finished, opened her mouth to a smile, and raised her brow at Mac. "Well, I think it's about time."  
  
Bud raised his glass. "Here, here." Bobbi joined him quickly and Sturgis chuckled more when he raised his. Meredith and the Admiral lifted smiles and glasses to it to. Harm sat forward and pulled up his water glass to keep from standing out in the crowd.  
  
Mac's brow lifted as he raised it in an inconspicuous toast and sipped. His eyes flicked over to her at it, but flicked away again, already fighting a grin. She was challenging him to look the Admiral in the eye. They'd been there a half an hour and Harm hadn't done it yet. He folded his lips together, rubbed them together, watched his fingers fiddle with his water glass, and deliberately sighed with boredom.  
  
The Admiral ducked his chin, studying the man with a crease of humor in his brow, and easily rested one hand on the other wrist. "Are you all right, Commander?"  
  
Harm was managing a strait face, but a smile splashed out when he spoke, "Yes, sir."  
  
Sturgis threw his head back and laughed at him. Meredith lightly slapped the Admiral's elbow. "Oh, A.J., leave him alone."  
  
The Admiral stared arrogant and easy at the man who was ducking guilty and feigning the worse act of innocence he'd ever seen and enjoyed every minute of silence that was making Harm squirm.  
  
Bobbi tucked away a snicker as she watched the exchange. Bud bit his own lips, hoping for Harm to stay out of trouble, but giggling silently at the Admiral's expressions.  
  
Harm's eyes flicked up to the Admiral with a sinful twinkle in his eyes, but flicked back down when he saw that the Admiral was still looking at him.  
  
Mac turned casually toward Harriet as if they were talking, but her expression was obvious that she was simply finding somewhere else for her eyes to go. Harriet giggled at it a moment, sat up in her chair, bright as a penny, and asked her husband to excuse her so she could visit the ladies room.  
  
Mac's eyes moved from Bud to Bobbi to the Admiral. She pushed herself out of her own chair. "Good idea."  
  
Harm's eyes flicked up sideways at them. Don't leave me here alone with him!  
  
Meredith giggled as the women started walking away. "Oooh, girl talk." She scrambled out of her chair and moved away with them.  
  
Harm and the Admiral's face sprung back to look at each other, then back to the table, to shift their heads with Bud and Sturgis. and Bobbi.  
  
Bobbi's eyes flicked from one silent man to the next. Most of them weren't actually looking at her, but she felt like it was a stare down. She lifted her chin, sighed loudly, and shifted out of her chair. "Excuse me."  
  
The men were silent as she left too, but were fighting snickers as soon as she was out of earshot.  
  
The Admiral grinned, shaking his head, "It's good to know you take an order every once in a while, Rabb."  
  
Harm put one ankle on the other knee and bubbled a deep chuckle. "I try, sir. I really do."  
  
The Admiral chuckled, nodded as the laughter calmed, and asked casually as he played with his tumbler. "So, how did she like the earrings?" She was so guarded about it at the table, it was hard to tell if she loved them or had been physically forced to wear them.  
  
Harm's eyes caught on him, widened a little, and dashed down at the table. He propped his elbow on the arm rest and rubbed his lower lip with his finger. Harm's voice was tight, almost crawling to a squeak, and intensely cautious, "Are you sure you want the details on that, sir?"  
  
The Admiral gave Rabb a double-take.  
  
Bud sniggered into his glass. Sturgis's shoulders shuddered until he sat forward to lean on his own knees. Eventually, the Admiral laughed out loud, wiping tears from his eyes with thumb and forefinger.  
  
Tiner stepped up wearing a nice, but not expensive, slacks and jacket. His brow rippled at the cackling men at the table, but he licked his lips and stepped up anyway. "Good evening, Admiral."  
  
The Admiral looked up with a red faced pause, but he chuckled some more, calming in waves. "Well, hello, Tiner."  
  
Tiner smiled at Sturgis and Bud and then Harm, wanting to ask, but not sure if it was appropriate. Instead, he watched the Admiral calm down. Tiner gave a happily surprised flick of his brow that his boss was having such a good time, and waited at a bit of a parade rest for the giggles to calm before he sparked conversation.  
  
The Admiral clasped his hands in front of his mouth but motioned a finger to a chair. "Have a seat, Tiner. The ladies will probably be gone a while."  
  
Tiner nodded, honored, and moved to Mac's seat simply because it was closest. He sat at the edge of the chair and with his hands casually on his knees, but his face was bright and relaxed as he watched Bud and Sturgis and Harm continue to spark up in occasional snickers.  
  
Finally, he turned to the Admiral. "Sir, I was wondering."  
  
At his intro, the laughter calmed to pay attention to him.  
  
Tiner's head angled with not-so-shy curiosity. "I brought my girlfriend tonight and I'd like to pull her over and formally introduce her to you."  
  
Harm shifted in his seat, leaning the other direction and setting his chin in his fingers with surprised eyes at Tiner.  
  
The Admiral simply sat patiently with a grin in his eye and a naturally evil eyebrow in his forehead.  
  
Tiner angled his head the other way, but his eyes were a sparkly beg at the Admiral, "well sir, I was wondering if you would help me kind of work on her a little-"  
  
Harm was already shaking her head. "Tiner, I really don't think that's a good idea."  
  
Tiner hadn't even gotten his whole request out. He looked confused and caught at the Commander.  
  
Harm sat up and explained to the Admiral and Tiner. "Ms. Young may have enjoyed the Navy as much as the rest of us, but she has been out way too long."  
  
Bud shrugged. "Any member has up to ten years or the age of thirty five sir. Ms. Young's only thirty three."  
  
Sturgis shrugged at Harm, "If she really wanted it, she could make it back in."  
  
Harm shook his head and looked at the Admiral. "Sir, I realize that she may be still walk and talk Navy, but I assure you, sir, the woman has been through too much to be able to shake it off and put on a uniform again."  
  
The Admiral flattened his mouth at that, "You mean she has an attitude."  
  
Harm rolled his chin, "Yes, sir." His eyes flicked to Tiner sympathetically, "No offense."  
  
Tiner opened his mouth to speak but was still searching for the politely respectful words to all this.  
  
The Admiral's eyes moved to Tiner and crossed his arms on the table. "Well, Tiner. What do you think?"  
  
"Well sir, with all due respect," he shook his head at Harm. "She doesn't want back in the Navy. She want to be an English teacher," he pointed out.  
  
Harm shrugged a sincere apology at him and sat back in his chair, getting out of the way of the conversation.  
  
The Admiral winced at this. "Then what is it you want me to work on her about?"  
  
Tiner inhaled deeply, held it in his chest a long moment, and let it burst out with a sparkle in his nervous eyes. "Moving to D.C., sir."  
  
"Ho!" Sturgis rolled his head away and was already chuckling again. Harm twitched out a giant, disbelieving smile and a hard blink. Bud elbowed Tiner and nodded. "Good for you."  
  
The Admiral's eyes narrowed at Tiner. He folded his arms at his chest and hunched down on his elbows, eyeballing the kid some more, giving his absolute best 'get out of my office' glare.  
  
But Tiner didn't move. He kept the stare with the Admiral, brows lifted, mouth grinning, and a new confidence in his happy eyes.  
  
Harm looked at the Admiral and back to Tiner. Then Sturgis and Bud were doing the same thing, wondering who was going to win.  
  
Suddenly, the Admiral's brows rippled like the man was crazy, "You're serious."  
  
Tiner's eyes didn't waver. Both his brows lifted into his forehead with a slow, smiling nod.  
  
Harm saw Jodi before the rest of them did, but only because he recognized her. She was in a purple party dress, made up and done up, but still had that college swanker in her walk. "There you are, Jason." She stepped up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder with a light joke, "What are you doing sitting at the grown ups table?"  
  
Tiner sat up in the chair and did the rounds. "Jodi, I'd like you to meet Lieutenant Roberts, Commander Sturgis, Admiral Chegwidden, my boss, and you know Commander Rabb."  
  
Jodi shook hands with Bud, but just waved at everybody else since they were so far away. "Nice to meet you."  
  
The Admiral sat back in his chair and cross his arms at his chest. "So, tell me Ms. Young. How did you two meet?"  
  
"A-school. Orlando. 1990." Tiner told him. "We dated for nine months, but she got west coast orders and I got east coast orders," he shrugged.  
  
"We lost touch and it was just coincidence that my name came up in the Wallis case." She explained. "I guess it is a small Navy after all."  
  
"Tiner tells me your studying to be an English teacher." The Admiral said like a father's interrogation before a first date.  
  
"Yes, sir," she nodded fervent and proud, lifting her chin as high as the Admirals. "High school. My personal goal is to single handedly raise the literacy rate in the state of California." She grinned like it was joke, but wasn't entirely kidding about it.  
  
"Quite a task." He said loudly, almost challenging.  
  
"Yes, sir, it is." She nodded with a full understanding of the depth of her own statement, and met eyes with him again, as bold and confident as he was, and saying it as though it were a simple fact. "But I'm going to do it."  
  
The Admiral's eyes hung on hers a long moment to see if she'd bend, but she didn't. His head angled at Tiner again, only to find the same proud grin and steady eyes. Then his eyes moved to Harm, who just shrugged behind his casual finger and glanced over a surprised grin at the two.  
  
The Admiral's face angled back to her, twisted to the side with his casual suggestion tone, but his words were stopped when the four women moved around the table to reclaim their chairs again.  
  
Jodi and Tiner stepped out of the way and behind the shoulders of Harriett and Mac. Jodi was formally introduced to the women at the table and she greeted nice to meet you's and a somewhat shy grin about all the names. "How about I just call everybody sir and ma'am?"  
  
Tiner snickered a little and shrugged a shoulder, but he raised his face back to the Admiral, the favor still being requested in his eyes even though he was ready to move away and try later.  
  
The Admiral angled his head. "Ms. Young, Meredith here is a high school English teacher." He turned to Meredith, explaining, "Ms. Young here is studying as we speak. Wants to single-handedly raise the literacy rate in California."  
  
Meredith's brows lifted at the woman's age, "You're just now attending college?"  
  
Jodi grinned and nodded wisely, "Sometimes, ma'am, it's easier to get through college than it is to get to college."  
  
Meredith folded her arms on the table with interest. "What's your area of study?"  
  
Jodi angled her head. "I haven't really picked one yet. Probably early American though. Thoreau, Bradstreet, yadi yadi."  
  
The Admiral played with his lower lip. "They have a lot of openings in California for that?" He expected a 'yes', or an 'I think so'. He wasn't expecting a statistic.  
  
"The Department of Educations estimates 450 thousand teaching jobs opening up in the next ten years in the state of California alone." She shrugged and smiled, "Guess all those hippies are finally deciding to retire."  
  
Harm glanced at Mac to chuckle, but hung for a moment longer to glitter. She glittered back, glittered at her lap, and casually raised her chin to pay attention to the conversation.  
  
The Admiral angled his head at Meredith. "I wonder what kind of openings there are in Virginia?"  
  
Bobbi pointed out. "Teachers are undermanned country wide. Especially high school English."  
  
Harm motioned shyly to Jodi, "You should check it out. I hear we pay our teachers pretty well compared to California."  
  
Tiner had stepped behind Jodi and was nodding with a smile at this, but his face went blank and innocent when she glanced back at him like there was conspiracy going on here. "What?" he shrugged.  
  
Jodi pressed her mouth and looked back over the table like they were a room full of students hiding a stray cat.  
  
Harriett's eyes smiled, catching what was going on and cuddled her hand into Bud's as they watched it all go down.  
  
Sturgis fidgeted with his water glass. "I think she's onto us."  
  
Jodi groaned and shook her head, stepping back once.  
  
Harm flapped a hand out at her, throwing it out in the open. "What's wrong with moving to Washington?"  
  
Jodi stopped on both feet, faced him, and flopped a finger at the door. The California came out in her accent, "Okay- did you see all that white stuff out there falling out of the sky?" Half the table laughed at it.  
  
Her fingers were weaved into Tiner's and they waved as they began to step away.  
  
Meredith rose her brows at Jodi, "Come back after the dinner's over. Maybe we could talk some shop."  
  
Jodi smiled brightly about that and nodded. "Thank you, ma'am. I'd like that."  
  
Tiner kept peaking at her over his shoulder as they walked hand and hand to a table full of loud enlisted personnel. Jodi slapped his shoulder once about it, but he only giggled, straitened his shoulders like he was walking on clouds, and was already bantering loud and happy at 'the gang' when they sat down.  
  
"You're right," the Admiral nodded at Harm as he lifted his water glass, "She does have an attitude." Then he grinned into it, "I just hope she doesn't give any of it to my assistant."  
  
"He's happy, sir." Harriet pointed out, defending Tiner.  
  
Bud nodded to back up his wife and his Admiral at the same time. "He's walking taller, sir, but that can be a good thing."  
  
Mac was looking over and came back with a grin at the table. "I think they're perfect for each other."  
  
Harm's brows went crazy at that. "After what we saw in California?" He shook his head like she was nuts. "Tiner's going to end up falling for her long distance, lure her into moving here, and then she's gonna have him for breakfast."  
  
Harm was on such a roll he didn't realize what he'd said until Mac was sputtering ice water from her mouth. His eyes widened and his breath froze in his throat. Mac's face hardened into a reddening knot behind her water glass. Harm shook his head and closed his eyes into his hand, trying not to snicker, but it wasn't working.  
  
Harriet's brows were the only ones elevated into a forehead, but she was the first to say something, "Did I miss something?"  
  
The Admiral folded his lips together to keep from grinning.  
  
Sturgis angled his head at the two.  
  
"What I meant was," Harm tried to say, but ended up bending over to hold back his laughter.  
  
Mac put her glass down, tried to excuse herself, and got up from the table with the back of her hand against her mouth. Her face was nearly as red as her dress as she walked away quickly.  
  
Harm avoided meeting eyes with anybody, but he ducked his tone to low, professional and humble as he got up. "Excuse me while I apologize." He stepped away before anyone had the chance to respond.  
  
The entire table watched the two nearly stumble with giggles to a far part of the dining room before turning to each other so Harm could shake his head with chuckling apologies and Mac could slap his elbow between snickers. Even though half her face was behind a hand, her eyes were bright and giggly when she looked up to listened to him. Harm started wagging a finger at her about it, but his eyes were just as sparkly.  
  
"Well, I think their perfect for each other." Harriet comment casually.  
  
"We'll see," the Admiral said easily, pulling his eyes back to the table, "I want to get to know her better before I pass judgment."  
  
"Oh, Tiner and Jodi?" Harriet lifted her chin and nodded in circles. "I suppose I'd agree with you on that, sir."  
  
The Admiral sucked the water from his lips with a grin at Harriet. Meredith laughed. Bud giggled surprise at the expressions on the couple still battling through their blushes in the corner. Bobbi's voice curled in curiosity, "Why is it they can't come out of the closet?"  
  
Sturgis muttered a grin, watching the same scene from behind Bobbi. "Conduct Unbecoming. They're in the same command."  
  
Bobbi nodded, slow and distracted. Harriet glanced back to exchange loving and victorious eyes with Bud. The Admiral sat up with a grin in his grumbly expression and peeped up. "Are they going to feed us or not?"  
  
The squids had taken over the juke box and nearly forced the existence of a dance floor by pushing a few tables out of the way. The restaurant crew, wearing pseudo, jacketless tuxedos, only chuckled and assisted their endeavors. With bottles of beer in their hands and ties loosened around their necks, a handful were leaning into each other like some barbershop quartet and sang the wrong names to Mambo Number 5 while those-with-dates giggled into each other's shoulders as they tried to dance to the song.  
  
Sturgis and Bobbi were talking with a side-stepped group, glancing smiles over at the fun from time to time. Meredith and Jodi had pulled away, getting a long like a house on fire about English and teaching. Bud tried to talk Harriet into dancing. Gunny crooned out, "A little bit o' Lopez by my side, a little bit o' Kidman in my life, a little bit o' Berrymore's all I need, a little bit o'. that second class on the first floor who shall remain nameless."  
  
Hard swig.  
  
Ducked giggle.  
  
Tidal wave of accusations.  
  
Gunny elbowed Tiner with his beer in defense. "Did you get little bit o' Young?"  
  
Tiner rolled his shoulders back and lifted a proud squid grin, "Lot a bit o' Young." He pulled a swig and ducked away to blush and laugh as the tidal wave rolled the other way.  
  
"Try to say that three times fast," Harm laughed.  
  
Mac and Harm were standing nearby but out of the way. Their eyes were bright to watch the dancing and the singing and they were both quick to join the jokes. They weren't holding hands or standing close or even turned to each other, but they weren't exactly standing near anyone else either. They probably thought it looked completely innocent, but their complete comfort at the other's presence was obvious. Thankfully, no one dared to shatter their illusion.  
  
In the back of the room, far from the rowdy group and behind the quiet chats of the conservative ones still at the tables, Admiral Chegwidden grew a half grin to watch his crew manage the fine line between having a good time and behaving themselves.  
  
All was well in JAG. 


	7. Epilogue

Epilogue  
  
He led her by the arm down the hall to her apartment and dropped his shoulder against the jam while she unlocked it.  
  
"It made me feel guilty," she complained jokingly. "They drag us out of the closet suspecting all kinds of things that haven't been going on." She pushed open the door, flicking the hair from her face as she looked up at him. "And you weren't helping. You just sat there like it was none of your business."  
  
"I was an innocent bystander, Mac." He shrugged his shoulder and put his hand on his hip. "That's all I was supposed to be."  
  
She stepped in and pulled off her coat with a flick of her chin, "You could've redirected the conversation."  
  
He shook his head and chuckled. "It would have only made me look more guilty."  
  
She rolled her head back with disbelief and chuckled. She dropped her coat and strolled back to the door, holding it open with both hands.  
  
Harm had that warmth in his eyes again and the confidence to stay or leave as she pleased. Mac dropped her chin a little and dropped her tone, trying to shrug. "Would you like to come in for a drink?"  
  
He lifted his brows at the term, a little worried.  
  
She smiled shyly. "I mean water. "  
  
He relaxed in a blink and his eyes moved back up to her as she continued.  
  
"Hot cocoa. coffee.." she blushed a smile.  
  
Harm's mouth closed. He was smiling softy at her and his blue eyes were on her from the side. If he walked through that door, it wouldn't be for a drink of any kind, and she knew it.  
  
But he wasn't coming in unless that was her intent in the first place.  
  
Her eyes reflected only that she knew what he was thinking. Her voice was still confident and casual. "Orange juice?"  
  
A tongue moved to his teeth as he watched her expressions and wondered how long the list was going to grow.  
  
Her voice softened, but only enough. "Bacon and eggs?"  
  
His brows flicked. He watched her eyes to see if she really meant it.  
  
Mac stood there, chin lifted, brown eyes sparkling, and lips trying not to smile and blush. She was a little nervous, but dead serious.  
  
Harm's eyes heated as he rolled his shoulder slowly around the door jam, stepped onto both feet as he moved into the apartment, and eyes sparkled as he took the door from her. Mac stepped into him with a twinkle. Harm lowered his open mouth onto hers, took her in by the waist with one hand, and closed the door with the other.  
  
The bolt lock closed with a quiet but poignant snnnick.  
By Kesselia Banta ( Thanks for reading. 


End file.
